Rosa Yaseen Hassan ( ar, روزا ياسين حسن) is a

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

novelist and writer. She was born in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

in 1974 and studied

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at university. Upon graduation in 1998, she worked as a journalist, writing for various Syrian and Arabic periodicals. Her first published book was a collection of short stories, published in 2000 under the title ''A Sky Tainted with Light''. She has also written a number of novels, starting with ''Ebony'' (2004) which won the Hanna Mina Prize. Her third novel ''Hurras al-Hawa'' (''Guardians of the Air'', 2009) was longlisted for the

Arabic Booker Prize The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) ( ar, الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic ...

. In 2009, Hassan was chosen as one of the

Beirut39 Beirut39 is a collaborative project between the Hay Festival, Beirut UNESCO's World Book Capital 2009 celebrations, ''Banipal'' magazine and the British Council among others in order to identify 39 of the most promising Arab writers under the age o ...

, a group of 39 Arab writers under the age of 40 chosen through a contest organised by

Banipal ''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three tim ...

magazine and the

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, t ...

.Profile on Hay Festival website
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* 1974 births Living people Syrian women novelists Syrian women journalists Syrian women short story writers Syrian short story writers Writers from Damascus 20th-century novelists 20th-century women writers 20th-century short story writers Syrian Alawites 20th-century Syrian women writers 20th-century Syrian writers 21st-century Syrian women writers 21st-century Syrian writers {{Syria-writer-stub