Rasha Abbas (, born 1984 in

Latakia , coordinates = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 11 , elevation_ft = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 41 , geocode ...

, Syria) is a Syrian writer and journalist, best known for ''The Invention of German Grammar'', a collection of short stories in Arabic about her experience as a refugee in Germany. She was a winner of the young writers' award at the

2008 Arab Capital of Culture The 2008 Arab Capital of Culture was chosen to be Damascus, Syria. The Arab Capital of Culture is an initiative undertaken by UNESCO, under the ''Cultural Capitals Program'', to promote and celebrate Arab culture and encourage cooperation in th ...

Life and career

Abbas was brought up in Damascus and studied journalism at

Damascus University The University of Damascus ( ar, جَامِعَةُ دِمَشْقَ, ''Jāmi‘atu Dimashq'') is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through ...

in 2002. While working as an editor at the Syrian state television, she published a collection of short stories, ''Adam hates TV'', for which she won a young writers award at the

. When the Syrian civil war started, she joined the anti-government protest movement. A year later, she was forced into exile in Lebanon. In 2014, she won a Jean-Jacques Rousseau fellowship for a three-month residency at the

Akademie Schloss Solitude The Akademie Schloss Solitude is a foundation under public law. The main aspect of the Akademie is to promote mainly younger, particularly gifted artists and scientists by means of residency fellowships and also by organizing events and exhibitio ...

in Stuttgart, Germany. During this time, she published her second book of short stories, ''The Invention of German Grammar''. This fictionalised her experiences of settling in Germany as a refugee, and of learning the German language. The German translation appeared before the Arabic original manuscript. It was later published by the Lebanese office of the

Heinrich Böll Foundation The Heinrich Böll Foundation (german: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V., HBS) is a German, legally independent political foundation. Affiliated with the German Green Party, it was founded in 1997 when three predecessors merged. The foundation was ...

and had to be slightly rewritten for Arabic readers. In 2017, Abbas participated in the Shubbak Literature Festival at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

, London. Her presentation, ''The King of Cups'', was based on her research on the cultural and political ramifications of the short-lived union between Syria and Egypt as the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

. Her story “You can call me Velvet”, translated by Katharine Halls, was shortlisted for the 2021 ArabLit Story Prize. Abbas successfully applied for asylum in Germany after her residency in Stuttgart. She currently lives in

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...

, Berlin.

Selected works

Articles and stories

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Books

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References

External links

Six Proposals for Participation in a Conversation about Bread
nonfiction by Rasha Abbas, translated by Alice Guthrie {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbas, Rasha Living people People from Latakia 1984 births Syrian emigrants to Germany Syrian writers