Khaled Khalifa

Journeys

Biography

Khaled Khalifa was Syria's most celebrated novelist, author of the landmark works 'In Praise of Hatred' and 'No Knives in the Kitchens of This City.' He chose to remain in Damascus through the entire Syrian war — refusing to leave while millions fled. His novels, translated into dozens of languages and shortlisted for international prizes, documented the suffocation of Syrian society under decades of Assad rule and the catastrophe of the civil war. He died in Damascus on September 30, 2023, of a heart attack, having witnessed everything he had written about. He was 59.