Haitham Hussein, novelist and literary critic
Haitham Hussein (Arabic: هيثم حسين) is a Syrian Kurdish novelist and literary critic, born on November 16, 1978 in Amuda. He worked as a teacher of the Arabic language, and as a freelance journalist and critic for Arabic newspapers including Al-Hayat, As-safir, Al-Bayan, Al-Quds, Al-Arabi and others. He lived in Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, but when his house was bombarded in mid-2012, he left the country and made his way to Britain.
His passion in life is the novel and literary criticism. In 2015, he founded Alriwaya.net, the only website specializing in contemporary Arabic fiction. He admires Arabic novels that move beyond tradition.
Hussein now lives in London with his wife and two daughters. He is a member of the Syrian Writers Association, the Authors Society of Great Britain, and Scottish PEN.
He has an active internet and social media presence. Visit his website, his Instagram, and his Facebook page.
Hussein’s novels (in Arabic) include
Aram: the Descendant of Unspoken Pains (Damascus, 2006)
Hostages of Memory (2009), translated into Czech and published in 2016; excerpts translated into English in Banipal ; translated into English in 2021. Here is a detailed description.
Needle of Horror (Beirut and Algeria, 2014), translated into French in 2020, and published by L’Armattan
Weed in Paradise (Tunisia, 2017)
Hussein’s books of literary criticism (all in Arabic) include
The Novel as a Mine and as a Puzzle (Aleppo, 2010)
The Novel and Life (UAE, 2013)
The Novelist Is Beating the Drums of War (Dubai, 2014)
The Fictional Character (UAE, 2015)
Why You Should Be a Novelist (Jordan, 2020)
He edited the compilation The Story of the First Novel by 30 Arab Novelists (Dubai, 2017)
He translated from Kurdish the play Who Kills Mamma . . .? by Bashir Mulla
His book No One May Remain (2022) has been translated into English. It is an autobiographical account of his experiences as a Syrian war
His new book is The Racist in His Foreign Land (2023), not yet translated.
