Interview conducted by Maria Torens, for El Espanol, November 12th, 2015
Photo credit: El Espanol
While hundreds of thousands of Syrians are fleeing their country to seek asylum in neighboring countries and Europe, you went the opposite direction in 2012 and 2013. It sounds crazy.
The situation was not so complicated. DAESH [acronym in Arabic the self-styled Islamic State] had not yet entered Syria. I was determined to come back and settle in our country. It was the beginning of the drift toward tragedy. Now I have also gone into exile [in France].

Interview conducted by Arantza Furundarena, for El Diario Vasco, November 15th, 2015.
Photo credit: El Diario Vasco

– What are your dreams for you country?
– I dream of a a united, secular country, where religion is separate from politics.

Interview conducted by Catalina Guerrero, for La Vanguardia, November 13th, 2015
Photo credit: Getty images
In Syria “we have to face two monsters: the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the ‘Daesh’ (Arabic acronym for the terrorist group Islamic State),” said writer and activist Samar Yazbek, who recounted in “The Crossing” the “atrocities” she has witnessed.
Her intention with this book, Yazbek explains, was “to set the record straight” and give a “voice” to the victims of  an “international war governed by the interests of the great powers” which has reduced her country to “rubbles”…

By Robin Yassin Kassan, for The Daily Beast, November 4th, 2015
Photo credit: Yannis Behrakis/Reuters
The Syrians Who Refused to Give Up
Syrian horrors and hopes almost defy description. Samar Yazbek’s passion and literary skill somehow manage to do them justice.

Samar Yazbek’s searing new book about her Syrian homeland is a testament to the indomitable spirit of her countrymen in their struggle against the Assad regime.
Samar Yazbek’s shocking, searing, and beautiful new book, The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria, describes three visits to Idlib province in northern Syria, …

Ibn Rushd Foundation for the Freedom of Thought is an association based in Germany, whose members are from the Arab diaspora or live across various Arab countries. It takes its name after the philosopher Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), taking it upon itself to support free thought and democratic forces in the Arab world by offering an annual prize. The award is independent, funded by contributions from its members and donations from supporters, with no link to any political or ideological trends. The award’s topic change each year.

Mou’in Al Bayari, for Al Araby, October 16th, 2015
The Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich, journalist, meets with many people who witnessed the tragedy she writes about about. She gathers their testimonies, and creates out of an open collage a narrative. The result is not a novel in the usual sense of the term, nor is it a reportage or an investigation. It is a meeting of literature with journalism. It invoques reality, as it is, but with an elevated writing style, rich with words expressing both the intimate and the apparent.