Abd al-Salam al-Ujayli

Abd al-Salam al-Ujayli was born in Raqqa, Syria, in 1918. He studied medicine in Damascus and Paris, and worked as a doctor in several Syrian cities. He also taught in various Syrian universities such as the Aleppo University and Damascus University. He was elected deputy of Raqqa in 1947 and took a number of ministerial posts in the ministries of culture, foreign affairs and information between 1962 and 1966. He is considered one of the most important and prolific writers of fiction in Syria and the Arab world, having published more than 40 books, including novels, short stories, poetry, plays, travelogues, essays and autobiographies. His works reflect his experiences as a doctor, a politician and a traveler, and often deal with themes such as history, culture, identity, memory and realism. He received several awards and honors for his literary contributions, such as the Syrian Order of Merit, the Lebanese National Order of the Cedar, and the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. He died in his hometown of Raqqa on April 5, 2006, at the age of 88.