Bassam Almusallam (Arabic: بسام المسلّم) is a Kuwaiti award-winning novelist, short story writer, and former assistant editor at KUNA.[1] He has published three books including two short story collections, Under the Pigeons Tower (2010) and The Banner: Stories in The Windward (2013) which won Laila al-Othman Prize in the same year.[2] His short story, Adham Washing Machine, won a competition organized by Al-Arabi magazine and the London-based BBC Arabic in 2012.[3]

Bassam Almusallam
بسام المسلّم
Bassam Almusallam at Kuwait International Book Fair, November 2019
NationalityKuwaiti
Occupation(s)novelist, short story writer

His debut novel, Valley of the Sun: The Phoenix Memo (2016), explores behind the scenes of the Syrian Civil War following the journey of a Kuwaiti ASU alumnus to join the Nusra Front militia fight against the Assad government between 2013 and 2014.[4]

Syrian novelist Fawwaz Haddad lauded the novel and Kuwaiti novelist Ismail Fahd Ismail who praised it for its "boldness", describing it as "tragedy of the time/now".[4]

The novel won the State Award for Literature in 2018, and is currently under translation to Chinese by China Intercontinental Press (CIP).[5]

References

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  1. ^ "KUNA :: Arabs need to play greater role in drafting UNESCO resolutions -- Dr. Hasan 26/03/2004".
  2. ^ "كونا : رابطة الادباء تكرم القاص بسام المسلم الفائز بجائزة الاديبة ليلى العثمان - الثقافة والفنون والآداب - 12/02/2014".
  3. ^ "مسابقة القصة القصيرة لبي بي سي اكسترا". BBC News Arabic (in Arabic). 12 July 2012. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  4. ^ a b العرب, Al Arab. "مذكرات كويتية عن الصراع في سوريا | زكي الصدير". صحيفة العرب (in Arabic). Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  5. ^ "KUNA : Info. Minister lauds achievements of state award laureates - Culture & Art - 09/01/2019".
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  Media related to Bassam Almusallam at Wikimedia Commons