Samar Yazbek (Arabic: سمر يزبك) is a Syrian writer and journalist.[1] She was born in Jablé in 1970, and studied Arabic literature at university. She has written in a wide variety of genres - novels, short stories, film scripts, television dramas, film and TV criticism. She has made a documentary about the Syrian scholar Anton Maqdesi. In the past, she has edited Women of Syria, a feminist e-zine.
Yazbek has been a prominent voice in support of human rights and wonmen's rights in Syria. Her debut novel, called Tiflat as-Sama (Heavenly Girl), challenged existing taboos in Syrian society.[2] She is a member of the minority Alawite community, but is an opponent of the regime of her co-religionist President Bashir al-Assad. She took part in the 2011 protests against the Assad regime,[3] and subsequently was detained by security forces[4] and also banned from travelling outside Syria.[5]
In 2010, Yazbek was selected as one of the Beirut39, a group of 39 Arab writers under the age of 40 chosen through a contest organised by Banipal magazine and the Hay Festival.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||