Khairy Alzahaby

Khairy Alzahaby was a Syrian novelist, thinker, historian, columnist, and scenarist. He was born in Damascus, Syria, on 11 January 1946. He headed to Egypt in the early sixties to pursue his high study at the Cairo University. He graduated with a degree in Arabic literature and was educated by writers such as Taha Hussein and Naguib Mahfouz. Politically he was always opposed to the regime in Syria, which made him face severe difficulties in his work and his life. He was one of the supporters of the Damascus Declaration. He was prevented from traveling, withdrew his passport, was fired from his job as a result of his political activity and signed statements against Hafez al-Assad's regime in 1991. He sided with the 2011 revolution in Syria against the regime, and then left the country to Egypt and then to the UAE and then Jordan and then Europe. He was an independent liberal political social activist, wrote more than 1000 articles in Arab newspapers, and lectured in many cities around the world such as Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Istanbul, Salzburg, Amman, Dubai, Cairo, Damascus, Beirut, Algeria and Casablanca. Dozens of doctoral dissertations on his work have been written. He died on 4 July 2022, at the age of 76. He wrote more than 20 novels and TV scripts, some of which were adapted into films and series. His novels spanned various genres, such as historical, social, and political fiction. He also wrote studies on literature and culture. He was known for his rich language, vivid imagination, and critical insight. He received several awards and honors, such as the Ibn Battuta Prize in 2019. He was considered one of the most prominent and influential Syrian writers of his generation.