I was trying to buy a banned book in Damascus by one of Syria’s top literary figures, and to my surprise it seemed to be going rather well.

Un papillon défiant les lignes de l’écriture
Dans son nouveau livre, Le Mont aux lis : histoires de songes (Dar Al-Mada), Samar Yazbek (1970) pose tout d’abord des questions liées au genre littéraire.

“Banning books is normal for us here, it’s funny, even a little absurd. It’s not like Europe ‚”Ooh, I’ve been censored”

Interview by Zahra Hankir, NOW Lebanon

NOW Lebanon: Your novel, June Rain, has received much praise. The work tackles one of the trickier aspects of the development of civil conflict in Lebanon: the 1957 rivalry in Zghorta between the Douaihy family and the Franjiehs and Mouawads which led to the Meziara church killing. Why did you choose to address these topics, specifically?
Jabbour Douaihy: As a matter of fact it was [the late journalist] Samir Kassir who gave me the idea of writing a literary novel about the background of the massacre …

The literary event ‘Les belles etrangeres’ which, each year in France promotes foreign literature is dedicated to Lebanon in its 2007 edition.

Mohammad Abisamra is among the 12 authors chosen for this event.

Syrian author clashes with censors, urges liberty
Tue Jul 3, 2007
By Tom Perry
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Author Khaled Khalifa tested the limits of freedom of expression in Syria with a novel exploring the government’s battle against Islamist militants in the 1980s. His “In Praise of Hatred”, published in Beirut, is officially banned in his own country. “They say the book is not permitted,” said the 43-year-old Syrian, smoking a cigarette as he leafed through a copy of the novel, its front cover concealed by newspaper.