Background
Following his return to Benghazi in 1954, Khouzam spent the next twenty-five years managing his father"s textile factory in Benghazi while continuing to write in his spare time.
Following his return to Benghazi in 1954, Khouzam spent the next twenty-five years managing his father"s textile factory in Benghazi while continuing to write in his spare time.
Born in Benghazi into a family of Syrian Maronites that originally hailed from Aleppo, Syria, Khouzam was educated in Milan and published his first story in Nuovi Argomenti.
Khouzam eventually left Libya in 1979 and retired to Franciacorta, Italy. Khouzam was associated with various leading Italian writers of his time, including Alberto Moravia, Giorgio Bassani, Vittorio Sereni, and Claudio Magris and his novels were published by various imprints such as Mondadori and Garzanti. His major opus was I confini dell"ombra, a sequence of eleven historical novels and short story collections that chart the history of his native city from the Italo-Turkish War in 1911 to the exploitation of Libya"s vast oil reserves in 1964.
His work has been compared to that of Paul Bowles and Albert Cossery.