Kūlīt al-Khūrī

Colette Khoury (, also written as Kulit Khuri, Colette al al-Khuri, Colette Khuri) is a Syrian novelist and poet, born in 1931, who is also the granddaughter of former Syrian Prime Minister Faris al-Khoury. Khoury graduated from Damascus University with a bachelor's degree in French literature and she received a diploma from the school of literature in Beirut. Khoury's notability stirs from her work in politics and literature. Her work as a writer focuses on love and erotica, a subject that was previously taboo in Syrian culture. Life Early life Colette was born into a notable family, as her grandfather, Faris al-Khoury is known as a hero for his resistance to the French. In addition, her father had been minister for village and town affairs. Khoury was also very patriotic, as she wrote several collections of stories about the 1973 October War, also known as the Yom Kippur War one of which was called "Luminous Days" (1984). Writing career Khoury was a pioneer of Arab feminism, and wrote angry stories in the 1950s about men and their selfishness. Khoury's career began in 1957 and has spanned more than 6 decades. Her literary career began with the publication of a collection of poems in French entitled "Vingt Ans" (Beirut, 1958). In it Khoury expressed her discontent with social constraints and the emptiness and aimlessness of her life; she also described her attempts to find salvation in love. Much of Khoury's work stemmed from her desire to avoid blatant retaliation; writing was the best and only way she could express herself. Khoury dedicated her work to immersing herself in the female psyche, particularly defending women's right to love. Khoury once said, "Since I always felt the need to express what was welling up inside me...the need to protest, the need to scream...and since I didn't want to scream with a knife, I screamed with my fingers and became a writer." Many of Khoury's stories covered topics like love and erotica, particularly from a female's perspective. Khoury has written more than 20 novels, as well as many political and literary articles.