Receive Our Newsletter
For news of readings, events and new titles.
Venus Khoury-Ghata (1937-2026)
Vénus Khoury-Ghata
(23 December 1937 – 28 January 2026)
Vénus Khoury-Ghata was born in Lebanon, in Besherri, the village of Gibran Kahlil Gibran. She studied Literature, and began publishing her poetry in 1966. Since then she published numerous novels and collections of poetry. Her younger sister was the celebrated novelist, journalist and editor May Menassa (1939-2019).
In 1999, Khoury-Ghata published a bestselling autobiographical novel, La maison au bord des Larmes (Editions Balland), published in English translation by Graywolf Press, USA in 2005 (trans. Marilyn Hacker), and excerpted in Banipal No 24, p56.
Throughout her career she won many awards, including the Apollinaire Prize for Poetry (1980), the Mallarmé Prize (1987), the Grand Prix of the French Society of Authors (1990) and the Prix Supervielle (1998). In December 2011, she was awarded the Prix Goncourt de la Poésie, in recognition of her life's work. She lived in Paris since 1972, settling there are fleeing the civil war in Lebanon.
Khoury-Ghata also received a number of honours, including in 2023 the Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit.
Contributor's Issues
The Cinderellas of Muscat by Huda Hamed (Banipal Books, 2025)
The Tent Generations
Things I Left Behind by Shada Mustafa, translated by Nancy Roberts
Shadow of the Sun by Taleb Alrefai
Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah
The Stone Serpent, Barates of Palmyra’s Elegy for Regina his Beloved by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Mansi A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Saleh (Banipal Books, 2020)
Tayeb Salih
Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi
Habib Selmi, author of Goat Mountain and 3 times shortlisted for the IPAF
The Mariner by Taleb Alrefai (Banipal Books, 2020)
Taleb Alrefai, author of Shadow of the Sun and The Mariner
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures by Fadhil al-Azzawi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Fadhil al-Azzawi
Poems of Alexandria and New York by Ahmed Morsi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
LATEST NEWS
* * *
* * *
* * *
.png)
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
Link to poems by Mosab Abu Toha, published in Banipal 71 (Summer 2021), available to read online
* * *
Link to poem by Liana Badr published in Banipal 74, now available as an online selection
* * *
* * *
GRIFFIN PRIZE SHORTLIST 2023
* * *
* * *
* * *
Banipal's first audiobook* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
Banipal Book Club
* * *
