Ghareeb Asqalani

Ghareeb Asqalani (whose real name is Ibrahim al-Zand) was born in the village al-Majdal Ashkelon in the south of Palestine in 1947. He has been living in the Gaza Strip with his family since 1948. He studied at the college of Agriculture in the University of Alexandria in Egypt, and received a degree in (Higher) Education in Islamic Studies in Cairo. He has worked as an agricultural engineer on the Euphrates Dam in Syria, as well as a teacher in the Gaza Strip. He also worked as a director in the Ministry of Culture and a Media spokesperson for the Palestine International Book Fair. He represented Palestine at the Spring Palestinian Culture Fair in 1997, and since 2010 has been Deputy Secretary General to the Palestinian Writers’ Union and Chairman of the Gaza branch. He is the author of nine novels, six short story collections, three collections of essays, as well as three collections of stories online. His articles have been published widely across national print media. He was the winner of the short story prize from New Bethlehem University in 1976, and from the Palestinian Writers’ Union in 1991. His short stories have been translated into English, French, Spanish and Russian.