Maram al-Masri

Born in the coastal city of Latakia to a well-known Sunni Muslim family, al-Masri studied English Literature in Damascus, although she interrupted her studies when she fell in love with a man of Christian faith. The relationship failed because of the opposition of the man's family as interfaith marriage was forbidden by Syrian law. In 1982, al-Masri emigrated to France, where she married a Syrian, whom she later divorced. In her book Le rapt she related to her experience of having been unable to see her son for 13 years, because he was taken to Syria by his father after she remarried. She has another two children with her French husband, from whom she separated, too. is based on social media images of the civil war. Although she defines herself as an Atheist, she justified the use of religious slogans in the Syrian uprising as a "last opium" which cannot be taken away from people brutally oppressed by a dictatorship. == Reception ==

Her poetry has been described as "direct, unadorned writing, with its emphasis on the quotidian", where the "utilization of simple, almost child-like metaphors, contrasts sharply with the conventions of traditional Arabic love poetry". "That a woman write so unreservedly about sex" also "lends a fresh, unexpected quality" to her poetry. Apart from Spanish translations, some of her works have been translated into Italian, Catalan and Corsican, with some samples in German, and she has been invited at poetry gatherings in several European countries, including Ireland and Italy. She has received several prizes, like the "Adonis Prize" of the Lebanese Cultural Forum, the "Premio Citta di Calopezzati" and the "Prix d'Automne 2007" of the Societé des gens de lettres. == Selected works ==

• I alerted you with a white dove (Andhartuka bi hamāmaẗ beidāʼ) (1984) • A red cherry on a white-tiled floor [Karzaẗ ḥamrāʼ ʿalá balāṭ abyad] (2003) • I look at you [Anẓuru ilayk] (2007) • ''Wallada's return'' [ʿAudaẗ Wallada] (2010) • Freedom, she comes naked (Elle va nue la liberté (2014) • The abduction [Le rapt] (2015) ==References==