Samar Yazbek
(Syria, 1970), journalist and writer of novels, short stories, scripts and non-fiction, is a great champion of human and above all women's rights in Syria. Yazbek fled her country after openly resisting the regime and lives in exile in Paris. She has won many awards, including the Oxfam Novib PEN Award during 2013's Winternachten Festival. The Crossing (2015), about her secret return during the war in Syria, was awarded Best Foreign Book in France. Her personal stories uniquely illustrate the situation in that country. In 19 Women: Tales of resilience from Syria (2018), Yazbek focuses on the role of women during the revolution. Her upcoming De Blauwe Pen (The Blue Pen) is a lively, poetic novel about a Syrian girl who cannot stop running through the middle of the insanity of the war.
Past events
Arab Demons
January 2011 proved a turning point in the Arab region: people raised their voices and succeeded in chasing away some of their dictators. But what about the demons? Is the real struggle lying yet ahead? Dutch Arabist Petra Stienen discusses the current state of the Arab world with writers and bloggers from the region: Mohamed Magani (Algeria), Samar Yazbek (Syria) and Sami Ben Gharbia (Tunesia). In English
