Khaled Khalifa

Syria | 2018

Khaled Khalifa (1964) is a Syrian novelist, poet and screenwriter born in Aleppo. He has a BA in law from the University of Aleppo and has written documentaries, short films, TV dramas and even the feature length film The Shrine Door. He is the author of five novels: The Guard of Deception (1993), The Gypsies’ Notebook (2000), In Praise of Hatred (2006), No Knives in the Kitchens of This City (2013, which earned him the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature) and Death is Hard Work (2016). His work has been critical of the Assad regime, which has resulted in censorship and intimidation. Despite this, he continues to live in Damascus.