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Samar Yazbek
Samar Yazbek in Istanbul (2013)
Born	(1970-08-18) 18 August 1970 (age 54) Jableh, Syria
Occupation	Writer
Literary movement	Women Now for Development
Notable awards	2016 Best Foreign Book award for “The crossing” (France) 2013 PEN-OXFAM Novib award for “A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution” (The Netherlands) 2012 PEN Tucholsky award for “A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution” (Sweden) 2012 PEN Pinter award for “A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution” (UK) 2010 Selected in the “Beirut 39, Hay festival” selection of outstanding writers under 40 (Beirut) 2000 UNICEF, Best literary scenario award for “A falling sky” (TV script)

Samar Yazbek (Arabic: سمر يزبك, born 1970 in Jableh, Syria) is a Syrian writer and journalist. She studied Arabic literature at Tishreen University (Latakia). She has written in a wide variety of genres including novels, short stories, film scripts, television dramas, film and TV criticism, and literary narratives. Several of her works have been translated from the Arabic original into other languages.

Biography

In 2010, Yazbek was selected as one of the 39 most promising authors under the age of 40, by Beirut39, a contest organized by the Hay Festival. In 2011, she took part in the popular uprising against the Assad regime, and was forced into exile a few months later. In 2012, she was chosen for the prestigious PEN/Pinter Prize International writer of courage award, in recognition of her book A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution. She was also awarded the Swedish Tucholsky Prize and the Dutch Oxfam/PEN prize in the same year. In 2016, Yazbek's literary narrative The Crossing was awarded the French “Best Foreign Book” prize. In 2024, the English translation by Leri Price of Where the Wind Calls Home was longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature.

Yazbek also participated in the Syrian cultural caravan, which was an artistic and cultural movement led by Syrian artists that started with a project called "Freedom for the Syrian People" and involved a road trip across Europe.

Works

Yazbek has been a prominent voice in support of human rights and more specifically women's rights in Syria. In 2012, she launched Women Now for Development, an NGO based in France that aims at empowering Syrian women economically and socially.

Awards and distinctions

• 2022    Royal Society of Literature International Writer
• 2016    Best Foreign Book award for The crossing (France)
• 2013    PEN-OXFAM Novib award for A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution (The Netherlands)
• 2012    PEN Tucholsky award for A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution (Sweden)
• 2012    PEN Pinter award for A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution (UK)
• 2010    Selected in the Beirut 39, Hay festival selection of outstanding writers under 40 (Beirut)
• 2000    UNICEF, Best literary scenario award to “A falling sky” (TV script)

Other publications

• "Silence", PEN Atlas, February 2014
• "I write with blind eyes and forty fingers", Index on Censorship (UK), December 2014
• "On two and a half years of massacre in Syria", SvD (Sweden) & FAZ (Germany), September 2013
• "Syria’s inferno", Le Nouvel Observateur, bibliobs (France), September 2013
• "The novelist vs. the revolutionary: My own Syrian debate2, Washington Post (USA), September 2013
• "In the shadow of Assad’s bombs", The New York Times, OpEd (USA), August 2012
• "Two men", The Guardian (UK), August 2011

References

1. "Samar Yazbek talks to Jo Glanville". Hay Festival. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
2. Flood, Alison (2012-10-09). "Syrian author shares PEN/Pinter prize with Carol Ann Duffy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
3. Sharp, Robert (2012-10-09). "Samar Yazbek Awarded International PEN Pinter Prize". English PEN. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
4. "Samar Yazbek från Syrien får Tucholsky-priset". Svenska PEN (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-02-06.
5. "Terugblik: Samar Yazbek (Syrië) ontving Oxfam Novib/PEN-Award op festival 2013". Writers Unlimited. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
6. "Le prix du Meilleur livre étranger récompense la Syrienne Samar Yazbek". Bibliobs (in French). Retrieved 2019-02-06.
7. "The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist". The New Yorker. 12 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
8. "Syrian Cultural Caravan". SPACE. 2016-04-26. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
9. Shackle, Samira (2017-08-07). "Syrian feminists: 'This is the chance the war gave us – to empower women'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
10. "#MoreWomenMorePeace: Samar Yazbek | Swedish Foreign Policy Stories". Swedish Foreign Policy News. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
11. "The Syrian war: Divided country, divided narratives". The Economist. 11 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
12. "RSL International Writers". Royal Society of Literature. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
13. "Le prix du Meilleur livre étranger récompense la Syrienne Samar Yazbek". Bibliobs (in French). Retrieved 2019-01-29.
14. "Le prix du meilleur livre étranger/Sofitel 2016 pour Helen MacDonald et Samar Yazbek". Livres Hebdo (in French). Retrieved 2019-01-29.
15. "Le prix du Meilleur Livre étranger Sofitel | ATLF" (in French). Retrieved 2019-01-29.
16. International, P. E. N. (2018-08-22). "Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression". PEN International. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
17. "Syrische journaliste ontvangt Oxfam Novib/PEN-Award". www.oxfamnovib.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-01-29.
18. Sharp, Robert (2012-10-09). "Samar Yazbek Awarded International PEN Pinter Prize". English PEN. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
19. Yazbek, Samar (2013). "SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class journal research". Index on Censorship. 42 (4): 130–133. doi:10.1177/0306422013513389.
20. "Samar Yazbek, la revenante de l'enfer syrien". Bibliobs (in French). Retrieved 2019-02-06.
21. Yazbek, Samar (September 13, 2013). "The novelist vs. the revolutionary: My own Syrian debate". www.washingtonpost.com.
22. Yazbek, Samar (2012-08-09). "Opinion | In the Shadow of Assad's Bombs". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
23. Hussey, Andrew (2015-06-28). "Samar Yazbek: 'Syria has been hung, drawn and quartered'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2019-02-06.

• 1970 births
• Living people
• Oxfam Novib/PEN Award winners
• Syrian Alawites
• Syrian dissidents
• Syrian feminists
• Syrian journalists
• Syrian novelists
• 21st-century Syrian women writers
• Syrian women journalists
• Syrian women short story writers
• Syrian emigrants to France