Samar Yazbek

Samar Yazbek was born in 1970 in Jableh, Syria. She studied Arabic literature and worked as a journalist and screenwriter for television. Although she belongs to the Alawite minority, she took a stand against the Assad regime and participated in the Arab Spring demonstrations in 2011. That same year, after repeated arrests, prosecutions, and threats, she left Syria with her daughter and sought refuge in Paris, where she continues to live today. In 2010, she was selected as part of the Beirut39 writing group as one of the most important new literary voices in the Arab world. In recent years, she has received several international awards for her work. She founded the non-governmental organization Women Now, which supports the rights of Syrian women. Her books "A Woman in the Crossfire" and "The Crossing," as well as her latest work "The Blue Pen," which was shortlisted for the 2016 Prix Médicis étranger, have been translated into many languages.