I thought my words would make me visible, a soul stepping into light. Instead, I learned they gave me the freedom to hide, quietly tracing the lives of others from the shadows. Khaled
Latest works
More works...
- Hammams, Crossing Borders & Becoming an Author: Khaled Alesmael Story
- Khaled Alesmael: Blood Stained My Gay Friends’ Shirts When They Were Arrested in Damascus
- Khaled Alesmael: Syrians deserve to feel joy and put politics aside – at least until tomorrow
- Masterclass: Khaled Alesmael, ‘Rooted in Words: Writing in Your Mother Tongue While in Exile’
- New Fiction in Translation: From Khaled Alesmael’s ‘Selamlik’
- For me, Ramadan will always be a drag queen
- From the Streets of Damascus to Gothenburg
- More work published in Berlin’s taz newspaper
This is Khaled Alesmael
- Award-winning writer and former journalist, born in Syria to a Turkish mother and Syrian father. A Swedish citizen, he now lives and writes between London and Barcelona. He writes in Arabic and English.
Before fleeing Syria, Khaled had a long career in journalism, working as a correspondent for several international media outlets.
Khaled Alesmael is a Syrian queer writer with lived experience as a refugee. He resides and works in London. His work has appeared in numerous media outlets, including New Statesman (London) and taz (Berlin), and he frequently speaks on queer literature—particularly Arabic and Syrian—at public events and universities such as Oxford, Sussex, and Gothenburg University.
His debut novel, Selamlik (2018), is a queer Syrian refugee story informed by his own experiences as a gay refugee in Europe. The book has received notable acclaim, including a shortlist nomination for the German SKOUTZ Award in 2021 and longlisted for Pen America 2025, and Dagens Nyheter described it as a “future classic".
In his second book, Gateway to the Sea (2020), Khaled presents the personal narratives of ten Arab gay men from Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Western Sahara, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon, offering a collection of unique fictive testimonies. This book has been published in Swedish (2018) and German (2022) and in Englihs in 2027.
Khaled has received multiple awards, including the Kai Heino Award from West Pride (Sweden, 2022) and the National Swedish Radio Short Story Prize (2020) for his story “A Tote Bag Carries Damascus.” His short film, Coffee with Sukkar, received a special award at the Gothenburg Film Festival in 2019.
He is the founder of the Creative Writing in Arabic course and a former lecturer at Gothenburg University. His work has earned global recognition, with invitations to esteemed events and programs such as Faberfull (Catalunya, 2020), Strömstad (Sweden, 2019), Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain, 2018), the International Journalist Program (Berlin, 2017), and The International Visitor Programs for Journalists in Washington, D.C. (2009).
Before his literary career, Khaled worked in Syria, Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, and Berlin as a journalist and media professional. He co-founded one of the first private radio stations in Damascus, Syria Tomorrow, and contributed to children’s programs and cultural journalism, including as a correspondent for Radio France International’s Arabic department.
He currently writes for various media about LGBTQIA life in the Arab world and the experiences of exile.
Month
Feb, 2025
Author
Khaled Alesmael
I have been living in Morocco for some time now. I read; I write; I drink green tea, and every morning, I visit Jean Genet’s grave. I turn my back to the prison wall and gaze at the ocean, reciting passages from Selamlik at his tomb. Then, I step into his house and jot down my thoughts in his garden. I will miss the peace of Morocco, far from the Levant’s awakening.
“Genet wrote about Syria and Palestine!” says Naima, the cemetery caretaker, as she turns the key in the gate’s lock, leading me towards the grave of Jean Genet (1910–1986).
I am in the city of Larache, Morocco, fulfilling a vow I made to myself years ago: To visit this graveyard and read an excerpt from my novel, Selamlik, in Jean Genet’s presence. Some Western critics have drawn parallels between my writing and his, seeing in my work echoes of his cryptic explorations of love, homelands, and prisons. The most difficult kind of writing, I believe, lies in expressing the language of love for borders encompassing a place where you no longer belong...(Discover the story)
Upcoming Events
Stay tuned!
2026
More Upcoming Events to Be Announced
Masterclass: Khaled Alesmael, ‘Rooted in Words: Writing in Your Mother Tongue While in Exile’
Feb 2025
This masterclass requires no preparatory reading. Attendees are invited to read Khaled’s Selamlik (2018, 2020, 2024), which will be available to purchase following Khaled’s public lecture at 5:30 pm.
Closing Conversation at the ‘Habibi’ Exhibition, Stockholm
Feb 2025
★★★★★
Outstanding.
★★★★★
Papiertiger17
Das Werk fasziniert durch unverblümte Worte und aufrichtigen Tonfall. In einer Mischung aus romantischen, lustvollen Träumereien und berührender Wirklichkeit wartet dieser Collageroman mit viel Poesie, Erotik und Gefühl auf. Ein Buch, dass regelrecht zum Verschlingen einlädt.
★★★★★
The way the story is told with chapters that don't continue into each other was actually very enjoyable.
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Writing Between Worlds: Syrian-Swedish Author in London and Barcelona 