The Modern Novel

Biography

Ghassan Kanafani was born in Acre, Palestine, in 1936. He attended French missionary school but he and his family had to leave Palestine after the 1948 War. They lived first in Lebanon and then in Syria. After school, he attended the University of Damascus but was expelled for his involvement in the Arab Nationalist Movement and he moved to Kuwait. Then, under the influence of George Habash, he moved to Beirut, where he edited a newspaper. By this time, he had already started writing stories and, in 1963, published his best-known novel, رجال في الشمس (Men in the Sun). In 1967, he became involved in the formation of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, becoming its official spokesman. In 1972, he and his niece were killed by a bomb in his car, allegedly by Israeli agents. He left several unfinished novels as well as a non-fictional account of the Revolution of 1936-39 in Palestine.

Books about Ghassan Kanafani

Stefan Wild: Ghassan Kanafani: The Life of an Palestinian
George Hajjar: Kanafani – Symbol of Palestine

Other links

Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassan Kanafani – anniversary of his assassination – gone, but NOT forgotten!