Background
She was born in Jableh in 1970, and studied Arabic literature at university.
( A well-known novelist and journalist from the coastal c...)
A well-known novelist and journalist from the coastal city of Jableh, Samar Yazbek witnessed the beginning four months of the uprising first-hand and actively participated in a variety of public actions and budding social movements. Throughout this period she kept a diary of personal reflections on, and observations of, this historic time. Because of the outspoken views she published in print and online, Yazbek quickly attracted the attention and fury of the regime, vicious rumours started to spread about her disloyalty to the homeland and the Alawite community to which she belongs. The lyrical narrative describes her struggle to protect herself and her young daughter, even as her activism propels her into a horrifying labyrinth of insecurity after she is forced into living on the run and detained multiple times, excluded from the Alawite community and renounced by her family, her hometown and even her childhood friends. With rare empathy and journalistic prowess Samar Yazbek compiled oral testimonies from ordinary Syrians all over the country. Filled with snapshots of exhilarating hope and horrifying atrocities, she offers us a wholly unique perspective on the Syrian uprising. Hers is a modest yet powerful testament to the strength and commitment of countless unnamed Syrians who have united to fight for their freedom. These diaries will inspire all those who read them, and challenge the world to look anew at the trials and tribulations of the Syrian uprising.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1908323124/?tag=2022091-20
( In the dark of night, Hanan al-Hashimi awakens from a n...)
In the dark of night, Hanan al-Hashimi awakens from a nightmare, confused and shaken. Roaming the house in search of some reassurance, she is drawn towards the streak of light under her husband's bedroom door. Little does she know that the beckoning glow will turn her life on its head...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1906697434/?tag=2022091-20
( Samar Yazbek was well-known in her native Syria as a wr...)
Samar Yazbek was well-known in her native Syria as a writer and a journalist but, in 2011, she fell foul of the Assad regime and was forced to flee. Since then, determined to bear witness to the suffering of her people, she revisited her homeland by squeezing through a hole in the fence on the Turkish border. Here she testifies to the appalling reality that is Syria today. From the first innocent demonstrations for democracy, through the beginnings of the Free Syrian Army, to the arrival of ISIS, she offers remarkable snapshots of soldiers, children, ordinary men and women simply trying to stay alive. Some of these stories are of hardship and brutality that is hard to bear, but she also gives testimony to touches of humanity along the way: how people live under the gaze of a sniper, how principled young men try to resist orders from their military superiors, how children cope in bunkers. Yazbek's portraits of life in Syria are very real, and her prose, luminous. The Crossing is undoubtedly both an important historical document and a work of literature.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/184604488X/?tag=2022091-20
She was born in Jableh in 1970, and studied Arabic literature at university.
She has written in a wide variety of genres - novels, short stories, film scripts, television dramas, film and television criticism. She has made a documentary about the Syrian scholar Anton Maqdesi. In the past, she has edited Women of Syria, a feminist e-zine.
Yazbek has been a prominent voice in support of human rights and women"s rights in Syria.
Her debut novel, called, challenged existing taboos in Syrian society. She took part in the 2011 protests against the Assad government, and subsequently was detained by security forces and also banned from travelling outside Syria.
In 2010, Yazbek was selected as one of the Beirut39, a group of 39 Arab writers under the age of 40 chosen through a contest organised by Banipal magazine and the Hay Festival. In 2012, she was chosen for the prestigious Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association/Pinter Prize "International writer of courage", in recognition of her book A Woman in the Crossfire.
She was awarded the Swedish Tucholsky Prize in the same year.
She participated in the Syrian cultural caravan (2014-2015).
( A well-known novelist and journalist from the coastal c...)
( Samar Yazbek was well-known in her native Syria as a wr...)
( In the dark of night, Hanan al-Hashimi awakens from a n...)
She is a member of the minority Alawi community, but is an opponent of the government of her co-religionist President Bashar al-Assad.