Syrian writers living in Europe, Rasha Abbas, Hamid Sulaiman and Golan Haji discuss the topic of writing in exile with Albanian author Bashkim Shehu who made his home in Barcelona two decades ago.Rasha Abbas (Syria, 1984) studied journalism in the University of Damascus. Before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, she worked as an editor on public television and published a collection of short stories titled Adam Hates TV, for which she was awarded the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture prize. When the war started in Syria in 2011, she joined the anti-government protest movement, before being forced into exile a year later. She was awarded the Jean-Jacques Rousseau grant by the Solitude Schloss Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany, where she currently lives and works on her writing. Read Rasha’s writing on www.wordswithoutborders.orgPoet and Kurdish translator Golan Haji (1977, Amouda, Syria) studied medicine at the University of Damascus and has a post-graduate degree in pathology. He currently lives in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis. He has published four books of poetry in Arabic: He Called Out Within The Darknesses (2004), Someone Sees You as a Monster (2008), Autumn, Here, is Magical and Vast (2013) and Scale of Injury (2016); as well as A Tree Whose Name I Don’t Know (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2017) in English. He has also published Until The War (2016), a book of prose based on interviews with Syrian women. Meanwhile, his work as an English and French translator includes the books of Mark Strand, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alberto Manguel. Read Golan on www.wordswithoutborders.org/contributor/golan-hajiGraphic novelist, painter and illustrator living in exile, whose work has been exhibited around the world Hamid Sulaiman (Damascus, 1986) has a degree in Art and Architecture from the University of Damascus. After the civil war broke out in Syria, he spent a period in prison before escaping to Europe. From there, he went on to seek refuge in Germany and later in France. His debut work was the graphic novel Freedom Hospital (2016) about the Syrian war, which garnered much critical praise. His work has been exhibited around the world and has even been acquired by the British Museum.Bashkim Shehu has published several novels and books of short stories which have been translated into French, English, Italian, Catalan and Spanish, among other languages. The books to have been published in Spain are Confesión junto a una tumba vacía (Confession beside an empty grave, Ed. Península, 1998. Autobiographical novel) and L’últim viatge d’Ago Ymeri (The last journey of Ago Ymeri, Meteòra, 2001. Version in Catalan and Spanish. Fictional novel). In 1997 he was received by the International Parliament of Writers in Barcelona in the framework of the Asylum City Programme. He is currently advisor at the CCCB. Co-ordinator of the cycles of lectures East or East/East-West (2000) and World and Experiences (2001).Find the event on CCCB website here.Watch the debate on the CCCB website hereLiterary Europe Live Plus is co-financed by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
