A review by John Domini for The Brooklyn Rail, Published September 2023
From the first, the Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa scores his latest for full orchestra. The opening page considers the grim aftermath of a devastating Euphrates flood, not far from Aleppo, back in 1907, and it summons every instrument, from tuba to triangle, in a rising crescendo of sorrow:” Before Mariana Nassar lost consciousness, she saw the bodies of her mother, her father, and her four brothers and sisters floating on the river alongside others she recognized: her neighbor and …

The National Book Award, New York, announced its longlist. The shortlist will be revealed on October 3rd, and the winner announced on November 15.
Khaled Khalifa’s “No one prayed over their graves”, translated by Leri Price, published by FSG in the USA is amongst the longlisted. Khalifa’s previous novel “Death is hard work” was shortlisted to the National Book Award in 2019.
Publishers submitted a total of 154 books for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

The Chicago Review of Books recommends Khalifa’s “No one prayed over their graves” as one of the 12 must reads of July! By Michael Welch, July 5, 2023
 
From the National Book Award finalist Khaled Khalifa comes the story of two friends whose lives are altered by a flood that devastates their Syrian village. On a December morning in 1907, Hanna and Zakariya return to their village near Aleppo to discover that their neighbors and families have all tragically died in a massive flood. The traumatic event forever changes Hanna, who …

Khaled Khalifa, in an interview with Michael Safi for The Guardian, July 1, 2023 about his new book, ‘No One Prayed Over Their Graves’
The award-winning Syrian novelist on Aleppo, the city of his ‘soul’, his fascination with the late 19th century, and his youthful introduction to Chekhov.
While Khalifa was writing his new book, No One Prayed Over Their Graves, Aleppo was comprehensively destroyed in fighting between the Syrian government and rebels. His work is banned in Syria.

Khaled Khalifa, in an interview with Marianne Meunier for La Croix, March 10, 2023
Originally from Aleppo, Khaled Khalifa lives in Damascus, which he never wanted to leave despite the conflict. He reads there alone, saddened to no longer be able to discuss his reading with his relatives, most of whom have left.

Published by Zeit Online, on February 15th, 2023, translated from the Arabic into German by Larissa Bender
Below some excerpts in English, translated with the help of Google translate.
Photo credit (c) Hassan Ammar / AP / Aleppo
***
“I never thought that one day I would stand on the hilltop of the world and see Syria being hit by an earthquake. The earth had trembled a few times when I was growing up, and all I remember is my mother’s fear that we would all die under the rubble. She woke us up after midnight and got us out quickly. The …