Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury dies at 76

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Novelist Elias Khoury, one of Lebanon´s most renowned writers and a fervent advocate of the Palestinian cause, died on Sunday from illness aged 76, sources close to his family told AFP.

Khoury, who was born in 1948 to a Christian family in Beirut, died in the Lebanese capital where he had been hospitalised for months, the sources said.

Over several decades Khoury produced a large body of work in Arabic that touched on the themes of collective memory, war and exile, alongside writing for newspapers, teaching literature and editing a publication linked to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Many of his books were translated into foreign languages including French, English, German, Hebrew and Spanish.

One of his best-known novels, “Gate of the Sun”, tells the story of Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes in 1948 during the war that coincided with Israel´s foundation.

Khoury also wrote about Lebanon´s 1975-1990 civil war in novels like “Little Mountain” and “Yalo”.

A champion of the Palestinian cause since his youth, Khoury was co-managing editor of the PLO-linked Palestinian Affairs magazine from 1975 to 1979, together with poet Mahmoud Darwish.

Khoury also headed the cultural section of the now-defunct Lebanese newspaper As-Safir and the cultural supplement of the daily Annahar.

He taught literature at several US institutions including New York´s prestigious Columbia University.