Walid Ikhlasi

Walid Ikhlasi was a Syrian writer who started his career as a writer of short stories in 1954. He published his first collection of stories, Qissas ("Stories"), in 1963, and his first novel, Shita al-bahr al-yabis ("Winter of the Dry Sea"), in 1965. He was also an avantgarde playwright, whose style was characterized by an experimental, surrealistic, and absurdist vein, often mixed with an extreme realistic tone. Among his major themes, was his longing for democracy and freedom. Besides his literary activity, Ikhlasi served as a lecturer at the University of Aleppo. He died in Aleppo on 19 February 2022, at the age of 86. He was considered one of Syria's most productive and influential dramatists and novelists, and a pioneer of modernism and surrealism in Arabic literature.