Ayman Sikseck (or Ayman Siksik or Ayman Siksek, ar, أيمن سكسك, he, איימן סיכסק; born 1984,

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

) is an Israeli–Arab author,

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

, opinion journalist and

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

. He writes mainly in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, and his debut novel ''To Jaffa'' was published in 2010. He writes for the ''

Ha'aretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'' newspaper. Siksek won the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; he, הספרייה הלאומית, translit=HaSifria HaLeumit; ar, المكتبة الوطنية في إسرائيل), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; he, בית הספרים הלא� ...

's 2013/2014 scholarship to encourage young Israeli writers.

Biography

Sikseck was born to a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

family in

, where he still lives today. He earned a BA in

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and General and Comparative Literature at the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. His first story was published when he was 18, in ''Sof'Shavua'' weekend supplement of ''

Ma'ariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or night. It consists primarily of the evening ''Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two verses from Psalms, ...

''. About a year later he published another short story as part of the ''

'' newspaper short story competition, and began publishing a series of short stories titled ''Jaffa Tel Aviv'' in the Culture and Literature supplement of the same paper. This short stories series was the basis for his debut novel, ''To Jaffa,'' in 2010. ''To Jaffa'' was translated into German in 2012, and into

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

in 2014. Between 2007 and 2010 Sikseck was among the prominent literary critics of ''Haaretz'' books supplement. Previously, he published literature reviews in the culture section of the Web site ''

Ynet Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

''. He writes op-eds in ''

Yediot Aharonot ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...

''. Short stories, poems and articles of Sikseck were published in the magazine ''Alachson''; In the poetry magazine ''Sha'ar La'Shira 2004'' of '' Helicon''; In the quarterly magazine of ''Keshet Hadasha''; In the Arab–Jewish quarterly magazine of ''Du-et''; And the '' Maayan'' poetry magazine. Sikseck was also the co-editor of the collection of poems "Tell it not in Gath: The Palestinian Nakba in Hebrew poetry, 1948–1958," (in Hebrew) edited by Hannan Hever. In an interview to the ''Sheva Leilot'' supplement of ''Yediot Ahronot'' on June 3, 2016, he

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a homosexual.

References

External links

List of publications of Ayman Sikseck

's catalog.
Ayman Sikseck
on Lexicon of Modern Hebrew Literature 1984 births Living people Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Palestinian writers Israeli literary critics Palestinian literary critics Palestinian LGBT people Israeli opinion journalists Palestinian opinion journalists Israeli Arab journalists Israeli gay writers Israeli LGBT journalists Arab citizens of Israel Gay journalists Gay Muslims 21st-century Israeli LGBT people Hebrew-language writers {{LGBT-bio-stub