Nihad Siris

Nihad Siris ( Arabic نهاد سيريس; * 1950 in Aleppo , Syria ) is a Syrian author who has lived in exile since 2012.

Life

Nihad Siris studied engineering in Sofia (Bulgaria) and initially worked as a civil engineer. Since 1987 he has been writing short stories, plays, screenplays and historical novels on a regular basis. After the publication of his first novels, which are set in the city of Aleppo and deal with the life of the local middle class, but also deal with political, historical and social topics, he was soon considered a representative of realism.

To date he has written seven novels and several plays, television drama series and short series for children. His novel Die Nordwinde (so far only available in the Arabic original), which takes place in the First World War and deals with the blossoming of Syrian national consciousness at the time, has been described by literary critics as one of the most important historical novels in Syria.

Siris is also known for its television dramas, especially through the widespread TV series Khan al-Harir (The Silk Market), which takes place during the political upheavals of the 1950s and 1960s, and in which the city of Aleppo with its culture and her regional dialect was first portrayed in a Syrian television drama. His book Al-Samt wal-Sakhab (The Silence and the Noise) has been translated into numerous languages ​​and has been published in German translation under the title Ali Hassan's Intrige .

Siris left Syria in early 2012 and first went to Egypt; he currently lives in Germany.

Awards

Nihad Siris won the English Pen Award for Writing in Translation for The Silence and the Roar (November 2012) .

He is the recipient of the Coburg Rückert Prize , which he received for his novel Ali Hassan's Intrigue (June 2013 ) .

In November 2013, The Silence and the Roar was listed in the top 10 books of 2013 by the US magazine Publisher's Weekly.

Works

Novels

• Al-Saratan (The Cancer), 1987
• Riyah Al Shimal ( The North Winds , The Small Market 1989, The North Winds-1917, 1993)
• Al-Komedia al-Fallahiya (The Pastoral Comedy), 1990
• Halet Shagaff (A Case of Passion), Beirut 1998; German translation in progress
• Al Samt Wa Al Sakhab, Beirut 2004; published in German under the title 'Ali Hassans Intrige', Basel 2008
• Khan Al-Harir (The Silk Market), 2005

The Silence and the Roar / Ali Hassan's Intrige is Sirees' only novel published in translation. It has been translated from Arabic into the following languages: English (UK and US editions), French, German, Dutch, Italian, Turkish and Czech.

Play

• Bait Al Alaab (The House of Games), 1997. Performed at the Al-Kheraffi Theater Festival in Kuwait, 2005; in English translation by the Brown / Trinity Consortium Acting Company, Brown University, USA, March 2013

TV drama series

• Khan al-Harir (The Silk Market) Part I 1996 and Part II 1998 - aired in all Middle Eastern countries (where reruns are still shown today) and subtitled in Iran and Australia
• Al-Thuraya, 1997
• Al Khait Al Abiadh (The First Glimmer of Dawn), 2004
• Al Malak Al Abiyedh (The Life of Khalil Gibran), 2008

TV dramas for children

• Al-Lughz (The Puzzle), 1994
• Qadiyat Tammam (Tammam's case), 1999

Publications in German

• Ali Hassan's intrigue. Roman from Syria. From the Arabic by Regina Karachouli, Lenos Verlag, Basel 2008.

literature

• Angela Schader: Syria's Unloved Sons . Report, in: NZZ, July 31, 2009

Web links

• Nihad Siri's website
• Appreciation on the occasion of the award of the Coburg Rückert Prize
• Portrait of Nihad Siris