Writer in Residence Programme 2014
Nihad Siries as WiR in Amsterdam
1 Jan-1 February 2014
http://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/residency-for-writers-in-amsterdam
The first writer to take part in the Writer in Residence Programme 2014 is Syrian author Nihad Siries. From January 1st until February 1st, Siries will live and work in Amsterdam at the invitation of the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.
Nihad Siries (Aleppo, 1950) is a Syrian author, who started out as an engineer but turned to writing at the age of 30. In the meantime he published seven books, a number of theater plays and several screenplays. Due to political reasons, Siries left his home country in 2012 and took residence in Cairo, hereby avoiding the Syrian censorship on his books.
His debut The North Winds appeared in 1989: critics described it as one of the most important historical novels in Syria. The Silk Market is a television drama written by Siries in 1998, which dealt with the political turmoil in the years of 1956-1961 and the foundation of the Ba’ath party. The screenplay faced strong political resistance: Siries was excommunicated and his works were banned. Siries books have been published abroad ever since.
One of his best known novels is The Silence and the Roar: it was translated in German, French and English. The English translation by Max Weiss is published by Pushkin Press in the United Kingdom and Other Press in the USA, and in 2013 it was awarded with the PEN Awards for Writing in Translation. The Dutch translation of The Silence and the Roar will be published by Van Gennep Publishers in the fall of 2013.
During his stay in Amsterdam, Siries will perform at the international literary festival Writers Unlimited / Winternachten in The Hague.
For more information about the Writer in Residence Programme on our website: programs > residency for writers in Amsterdam.
More about Siries and his work:
