Samar Yazbek
Samar Yazbek (f. 1970) er født i Jableh, Syria, er forfatter og journalist og har utgitt en rekke bøker. Hun studerte litteratur før hun begynte å jobbe som journalist for syrisk tv. Yazbek har engasjert seg aktivt for kvinners og barns rettigheter, samt journalisters ytringsfrihet i Syria. For dagboken A Woman in the Crossfire, en personlig fortelling om hennes opplevelser under starten på den syriske revolusjonen, ble hun tildelt 2012 PEN Pinter Prize og 2012 Swedish Tucholsky Prize. Det siste er en pris som blir tildelt forfattere som har vist ekstraordinært mot for å verne om ytringsfriheten. Romanen En duft av kanel ble første gang utgitt på norsk i 2013. Siden fulgte dagboken Inn i tomheten i 2015 og romanen Hun som går i 2018. Etter å ha blitt truet på livet og arrestert flere ganger i 2011, flyktet Yazbek til Frankrike. Hun bor nå i Paris.
ENGLISH
Samar Yazbek is a leading Syrian writer and journalist whose life and work have been defined by courage, conviction, and an unflinching commitment to justice. Born in 1970 in the coastal city of Jableh near Latakia, she studied Arabic literature at Latakia University before embarking on a literary and journalistic career that would place her at the heart of Syria’s cultural and political upheavals.
Over the years, Yazbek has become one of the most prominent voices advocating for human rights, particularly women’s rights, in Syria. In 2012, she founded Women Now for Development, an NGO based in France that works to empower Syrian women economically and socially while also supporting the education of children affected by war. Her activism is inseparable from her writing: in 2011, she joined the popular uprising against the Assad regime, an act of defiance that forced her into exile only months later.
Yazbek’s literary work has received wide international acclaim. Her sharp, evocative prose and moral clarity have earned her numerous prestigious awards. In 2010, she was named one of the 39 most promising Arab writers under 40 by the Beirut39 project, organized by the Hay Festival. Two years later, she was honored with the PEN/Pinter International Writer of Courage award for her powerful account of the early days of the Syrian revolution, In the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution. She also received the Swedish Tucholsky Prize and the Dutch Oxfam/PEN Prize in recognition of her fearless writing.
Her 2016 book The Crossing, a deeply human narrative of Syria’s descent into war, won the French Best Foreign Book Prize, while her novel The Blue Pen—published in English as Planet of Clay—garnered critical praise, making the final shortlist for both the French Femina Prize and the National Book Award in the U.S. in 2021. Her most recent novel, Where the Wind Calls Home, has also been shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2024.
Beyond literary recognition, Yazbek has been celebrated for her broader contributions to culture and freedom of expression. In 2016, she was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, and in 2019, the City of Palermo awarded her honorary citizenship. In 2022, the Royal Society of Literature named her one of its 12 International Writers, a program that celebrates global literary voices who transcend borders and languages.
With two short story collections, seven novels, and four non-fiction literary works to her name—and translations of her writing in over twenty languages—Samar Yazbek continues to shape international understanding of Syria, war, exile, and the resilience of the human spirit.
