Elias Farkouh

Who is Elias Farkouh?

Elias Farkouh is a Jordanian short story writer and novelist. He was born in Amman in 1948 and was educated in Amman and east Jerusalem. He graduated from the Arab University of Beirut where he read philosophy and psychology. He worked as a journalist in the early part of his career. After working at the publishing house Al-Manarat, he set up his own house Dar Azminah in 1991 and runs it to this day.

Elias Farkouh has published a number of short story collections and novels. His 2007 novel The Land of Purgatory was nominated for the inaugural Arabic Booker Prize, while his first novel Columns of Foam was selected as one of the 100 best Arabic novels of the 20th century by the Arab Writers' Union.

His short stories have been translated into English and appeared in Banipal magazine. He has also translated Western literary works into Arabic, notably a book of short stories by Latin American women writers that was published in 1999.

Elias Farkouh has won a number of Jordanian awards for his contributions to literature, including the State Meritorious Award and the Mahmud Sayf Ed-Din Irani Award, presented by the Jordanian Writers' Association.