Background
'Awwad was born in Bharsaf, a village in Matn District, the second of seven children.
Diplomat editor journalist writer
'Awwad was born in Bharsaf, a village in Matn District, the second of seven children.
He became a journalist, becoming editorial secretary of the nationalist Damascus-based newspaper Al-Qabas in 1931. Until 1941 he worked as editorial secretary of the new daily newspaper al-Nahar. In 1946 he was invited to join the Lebanese diplomatic service.
He served in a wide range of postings, retiring in 1975 as Lebanese Ambassador to Italy. He chose to stay in Lebanon during the 1975-90 Lebanese Civil War, losing manuscripts and correspondence when his Beirut flat was bombed in 1976. He died in a bomb blast in 1989.
His 1939 novel al-Raghif, inspired by Arab resistance to the Turks in World War I, "was quickly recognized as a landmark in the literary expression of Arab nationalism".