Quick Facts
Biography
Charif Majdalani is a French-Lebanese writer. Born in Beirut in 1960, he is a novelist and professor at Saint Joseph University, where he was head of the Department of French Literature from 1999 to 2008. A member of the editorial board of L'Orient littéraire, he is also President of the International Writers’ House in Beirut.
Life
Between 2005 and 2017, he published six novels in French. According to one critic, "Majdalani's novels are much praised in the Francophone world, and with good reason. His seductive prose twists and turns, deftly matching hallucinatory content with form." and have been translated into several languages.
The novels have been shortlisted for many important French and francophone prizes (Renaudot, Fémina, Médicis, Wepler, Jean Giono, Valéry Larbaud, Joseph Kessel, Albert Cohen, du Salon du livre de Genève, de la FNAC, des Libraire). He won the Jean Giono Prize (2015), as well as the Tropiques Prize (2008), the François Mauriac Prize of the French Academy (2008), the France-Liban prize (2016), the Phénix Prize (2005) and the Moise Khayrallah Prize of the North Carolina State University (2017).