"Woman in the Crossfire", A Talk with Syrian Author and Journalist Samar Yazbek

The Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania hosts Syrian author and journalist Samar Yazbek, who will be speaking about many aspects of the unfolding situation in Syria, which are also documented in her upcoming book entitled: A Woman in the Crossfire.

A Woman in the Crossfire is Samar Yazbek's haunting account of her experience of the uprising. Denounced by her family and clan for her vocal opposition to the regime, forced to live on the run with her daughter and detained on multiple occasions by the authorities, she continued to record the testimonies of figures in the Opposition, documenting their role and hers in the burgeoning movement. Yazbek captures it all in the poetic langauge of a woman trying to come to terms with the horrific scences being palyed out on the streets of the country she loves.

Yazbek has been a prominent voice in support of human rights and wonmen's rights in Syria. Her debut novel, called Tiflat as-Sama (Heavenly Girl), challenged existing taboos in Syrian society. She is a member of the minority Alawite community, but is an opponent of the regime of her co-religionist President Bashir al-Assad. She took part in the 2011 protests against the Assad regime, and subsequently was detained by security forces and also banned from travelling outside Syria.

Samar Yazbek (Arabic: سمر يزبك) is a Syrian writer and journalist. She was born in Jablé in 1970, and studied Arabic literature at university. She has written in a wide variety of genres -- novels, short stories, film scripts, television dramas, film and TV criticism. She has made a documentary about the Syrian scholar Anton Maqdesi. In the past, she has edited Women of Syria, a feminist e-zine.

For more information, contact: [email protected].

Watch "Diaries of the Syrian Revolution" with Samar Yazbek on YouTube below!