Shahla Ujayli (born 1976) is a

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indig ...

writer. She studied modern

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

Aleppo University University of Aleppo ( ar, جَامِعَة حَلَب, Jāmiʿat Ḥalab, also called Aleppo University) is a public university located in Aleppo, Syria. It is the second largest university in Syria after the University of Damascus. During 2005 ...

, eventually obtaining a doctorate. She became a teacher at her alma mater, and she also taught at the American University in Madaba,

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

. She made her literary debut in 2005, publishing a short story collection called ''The Mashrabiyya''. Since then, she has published three novels: ''The Cat's Eye'' (2006) (winner of the Jordan State Award for Literature), ''Persian Carpet'' (2013), and ''A Sky Close to Our House'' (2015). The last-named book has been nominated for the 2016

Arabic Booker Prize The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) ( ar, الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic ...

. Ujayli was also a participant at the 2014

IPAF nadwa The International Prize for Arabic Fiction Nadwa is an annual writers' workshop for young writers from the Arab world. Held under the aegis of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (itself funded by the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi), the ...

, an annual

writing workshop A writing circle is a group of like-minded writers needing support for their work, either through writing peer critiques, workshops or classes, or just encouragement. There are many different types of writing circles or writing groups based on l ...

organized by the sponsors of the Arabic Booker for promising young writers. Ujayli's academic works include: * ''Mirror of Strangeness: Articles on Cultural Criticism'' (2006) * ''The Syrian Novel: Experimentalism and Theoretical Categories'' (2009) * ''Cultural Particularity in the Arabic Novel'' (2011) On January 12, 2016, her novel ''A Sky Close to Our House'' was picked as one of sixteen candidates for the

International Prize for Arabic Fiction The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) ( ar, الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic ...

References

Syrian writers 1976 births Living people {{syria-writer-stub