Khalil Sweileh (; born 1959) is a

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

journalist and novelist. He was born in the mainly

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

city of

Al-Hasakah Al-Hasakah (; / ; ) is a city in northeastern Syria and the capital of the Al-Hasakah Governorate. With a 2023 estimated population of 422,445, Al-Hasakah is populated by Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians and Chechens. A ...

in northern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and studied literature at

Damascus University Damascus University () is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus, with campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 as the Syrian University () through the merger of the Faculty of Medicine of Dama ...

. He has since worked for a number of cultural publications in various capacities. Sweileh received the Naguib Mahfouz Medal in 2009 for his novel ''Writing Love'', translated by Alexa Firat and published in English in 2012. In his acceptance speech, Sweileh mentioned that as a village boy, his chance discovery of a tattered copy of Mahfouz's novel '' Khufu's Wisdom'' was partly responsible for inspiring his love of literature."Khalil Sweileh receives Naguib Mahfouz prize", ''Al Masry Al Youm'', 12th Dec 2009
/ref> His previous novels include ''Express Mail'' (2004), ''Do Not Blame Me (2006)'', and ''Zuhur, Sara, and Nariman'' (2008). In 2010, he won the

Arab Journalism Award The Arab Journalism Award (AJA) () launched in 1999, by Dubai Press Club, The award is given each year by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum during the Arab Media Forum. It plays a role in motivating Arab media and encouraged Arab journal ...

and the

Sheikh Zayed Book Award The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is a literary award presented yearly to writers, intellectuals, publishers whose writings and scholarly publications contributed to Arab cultural, literary and social life. The award has been described as “the Arab ...

for literature in 2018 for his novel ''Ikhtibar al-Nadam'' (Remorse Test).

References

Living people 1959 births People from Al-Hasakah Damascus University alumni Syrian writers Syrian novelists {{Syria-writer-stub