Lina Huyan Elhassan

Lina Huyan Elhassan is a Syrian novelist, born in the desert near Hama, Syria, in 1975, currently living in Beirut, Lebanon. She obtained a Diploma in Advanced Philosophy Studies from Damascus University, and has worked as a journalist in Lebanon since 2003. She has published nine works of fiction and non-fiction, including novels, poetry and studies of the Syrian desert. Her novel Diamonds and Women (2015) was IPAF-shortlisted, and she took part in the Prize’s Nadwa (workshop) for talented young writers in 2010. Her three novels for young adults were all shortlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, from 2016 to 2018, and a book of travel writing, The Fairy’s Heel (2022), won the 2022 Ibn Battuta Prize for Travel Literature, in the Contemporary Journey category.