Syria

  • The Mud of Old Damascus Became My Mud: A Conversation with Issam Kourbaj

    The Mud of Old Damascus Became My Mud: A Conversation with Issam Kourbaj

    Issam Kourbaj on found art, the imagery of boats, and urgent archives.

  • You Are Now Holding the Embers With Your Bare Hands

    You Are Now Holding the Embers With Your Bare Hands

    Syrian writer Rosa Yassin Hassan on exile. Translated by Nawara Mahfoud.

  • The Epoch of Human Shame: An Interview with Samar Yazbek

    The Epoch of Human Shame: An Interview with Samar Yazbek

    Samar Yazbek on conflict, imagination and literature in Syria. Translated by Leri Price.

  • For the Stories, or for the Visa Delays?

    For the Stories, or for the Visa Delays?

    Nayrouz Qarmout writes about Edinburgh, Gaza, short stories, and packing her bag.

  • With this Novel, I Return: An Interview with Rafik Schami

    With this Novel, I Return: An Interview with Rafik Schami

    Syrian-German novelist Rafik Schami discusses liberty, storytelling, language and exile.

  • The Revolution over Dinner

    Elliot Ackerman reflects on the role of fiction in times of conflict. His new novel Dark at the Crossing is published by Daunt Books in April 2017.

  • Art and Culture from the Frontline: In the hope that Syria Speaks even more!

    Syrian journalist and short story writer Rasha Abbas interrogates the role of art and literature in conflict

  • Who wants to kill a million?

    To inaugurate the publication of Syria Speaks, which will be touring UK bookshops, universities, refugee centres and schools, co-editor Malu Halasa writes for PEN Atlas about the uprising, the bravery and black humour of the activists, and how a satirical cartoon and finger puppets inspired the collection

  • Syria – the betrayed uprising

    Samar Yazbek, journalist, author and winner of an English PEN Writers in Translation award, returns our attention to Syria, the cynicism of the regime, the influence of outside powers, and how these combine at a great cost to the people

  • بالدم تُكتب ثقافة سوريا الجديدة

     لا يمكن الحديث عن الثقافة السورية دون الحديث عن دور الثورة السورية التي قامت بهدم البنية القديمة لهذه الثقافة، وبداية إنتاج قيم جديدة لثقافة سورية جديدة تنتظر نهاية المرحلة الدموية من الثورة لتبدأ بالاستقرار، وهذه القيم الجديدة متنوعة ويجري اختبارها كل يوم. رغم الدماء وقوافل الشهداء وتدمير المدن من قبل النظام بصواريخ السكود والطائرات الحربية…

  • Written in blood: The beginnings of a new Syrian society

    In a moving piece for PEN Atlas, Khaled Khalifa writes about the hypocrisy of the intelligentsia, the context of the Syrian revolution, and the task of imagining the world that will come after.

  • Geography of Secrets

    Nihad Sirees, author of the PEN Award-winning The Silence and the Roar, writes for PEN Atlas about his memories of growing up in Aleppo, Syria, and the way his sensual memories of the past now struggle with the violence and horror of the present

  • Dispatch from Syria: Capturing the Truth

    Following on from her piece for the English PEN magazine, Samar Yazbek ​describes the dangerous, often fatal struggle of capturing the truth of the Syrian revolution