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Hoda Barakat

ホダ・バラカット

Hoda Barakat

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1952-01-01 （Bsharri, Lebanon）
Nationality
Lebanese, French
Languages
Arabic, French, English
Religion
Maronite Christianity
Residence History
Bsharri (birth) → Beirut (early life and career) → Paris (long-term residence)

Career

Occupations
writer, novelist, translator, journalist, teacher, radio broadcaster, visiting scholar
Active Years
1975-
Affiliations
Nantes Institute for Advanced Study (fellow), University of Texas at Austin (Arabic Scholar in Residence, 2013), Dartmouth College (visiting professor), Central European University (Artist in Residence)
Nominations
International Prize for Arabic Fiction longlist, 2013 (Malakoot hadhahi al-ard / The Kingdom of This Earth)

Education

Lebanese University
Faculty of Arts (French Literature) / Department of French Literature
Period: 〜1975
Year of Graduation: 1975
Country: Lebanon
Graduated 1975. Spent 1975–76 in Paris pursuing doctoral work but returned to Lebanon when the civil war began.

Awards

Al-Naqid prize
Work: Hajar al-Dahik (The Stone of Laughter)
Organization: Al-Naqid
Result: winner
Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
2001
Work: Harit al-miyah (The Tiller of Waters)
Organization: American University in Cairo Press / Naguib Mahfouz Medal committee
Result: winner
International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF)
2019
Work: Bareed Al-Layl (The Night Mail) / English: Voices of the Lost
Organization: International Prize for Arabic Fiction (run by a London-based organization)
Result: winner
Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
2002
Organization: French Ministry of Culture
Result: recipient
Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite
2008
Organization: French government
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Sheikh Zayed Book Award 1 appearances
  1. Edition 19 (2025) Winner
    Work: Hind or the Most Beautiful Woman in the World (Dar Aladab, 2024)

    The novel follows Hanadi, whose appearance changes after acromegaly, and the mother who cannot reconcile herself to her daughter, tracing rejection and attachment across Beirut and Paris. It reflects on beauty norms, self-image, and the unsettling drift between memory and exile.

    A change in appearance quietly unravels family memory and self-image.

    328 pages
    beauty normsalienationmother and daughterillness and the bodymemoryexile

Works

Major Works

Hajar al-Dahik (The Stone of Laughter)

1990 Novel (modern literature)

Set against the Lebanese civil war, the novel portrays trauma and alienation through a marginalized male protagonist. Considered one of the first Arabic works to center a gay man as its main character.

war and traumaalienationidentity
Translations
  • English: The Stone of Laughter (Interlink Books, 1995)

Harit al-miyah (The Tiller of Waters)

1999 Novel

Depicts the wounds of war and community through multiple perspectives and fragments of memory. Winner of the 2001 Naguib Mahfouz Medal.

memorycollective traumapostwar
Translations
  • English: The Tiller of Waters (American University in Cairo Press, 2001)

Malakoot hadhahi al-ard (The Kingdom of This Earth)

2013 Novel

Explores movement, loss, and the relationship between state and individual. Longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2013.

displacementlosspower and the individual

Bareed Al-Layl (The Night Mail) / Voices of the Lost

2019 Novel

A work that gathers the voices of refugees and the lost. Winner of the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction and published in English as Voices of the Lost.

refugeesdisappearance and lossvoices of memory
Translations
  • English: Voices of the Lost (translated by Marilyn Booth, Oneworld, 2021)

Bibliography

  • Za'irat (short story collection, 1985)
  • Hajar al-Dahik (The Stone of Laughter, 1990)
  • Ahl el-Hawa (People of Love, 1993)
  • Harit al-miyah (The Tiller of Waters, 1999)
  • Malakoot hadhahi al-ard (The Kingdom of This Earth, 2013)
  • Bareed Al-Layl (The Night Mail / Voices of the Lost, 2019)
  • Also published plays, memoirs, and other works

Translations of Works

  • The Stone of Laughter (English translation, 1995)
  • The Tiller of Waters (English translation, 2001)
  • Voices of the Lost (English translation, 2021)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
concise, restrained prosefragmented perspectives and deep interiorityfocuses on inner trauma rather than exterior war spectacle
Recurring Motifs
traumaloss and memorymarginalized figuresmovement and displacement

Legacy

Hoda Barakat is an important writer in the Arab world who has persistently depicted trauma and the voices of marginalized people following the Lebanese civil war. Through international translations and awards she is regarded as a major contemporary Arabic novelist. She won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2019 and was the second woman to do so.

Trivia

  • Acquired French nationality by naturalization on 24 March 1998.
  • The Stone of Laughter is considered one of the early Arabic works to center a gay man as a main character.
  • Won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2019 for Bareed Al-Layl; she was the second woman to win the prize.