Elias Khoury, the Lebanese author known for his political novels and support of Palestine, died Sunday at 76, the Associated Press reports.
Khoury was born and raised in Beirut, and educated at the Lebanese University and the University of Paris. He fought and was injured in the Lebanese Civil War, and made his literary debut in 1975 with the novel On the Relations of the Circle, which he followed up two years later with Little Mountain.
His other novels included The Journey of Little Gandhi, The Kingdom of Strangers, Yalo, Broken Mirrors, and Children of the Ghetto. Khoury also worked as a journalist for several newspapers and magazines.
Khoury’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On the platform X, historian Lauren Banko wrote, “The loss of Elias Khoury is huge for the literary world, the Palestinian resistance, for storytelling but his novels and words and his love for Palestine are forever.”
And writer Alina Stefanescu posted, “I just learned that Elias Khoury passed away today and there are no words for the grief that his voice should be taken from us….Just shattering.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
