Authors

Amal Hanano

 

Amal Hanano is a Syrian writer.

ARTICLES BY Amal Hanano

  • One Year of Hope

    One Year of Hope

    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had..

  • Houla: Not a Game Changer

     Houla: Not a Game Changer

    Confession: the images of the carnage in Houla did not move me like they seem to have moved the rest of the world. Yes, they were tragic, horrific acts of violence against the most innocent of victims. But they didn’t break anything inside of me that was not already broken, nor did they raise th..

  • The Real Me and The Hypothetical Syrian Revolution (Part 2)

    The Real Me and The Hypothetical Syrian Revolution (Part 2)

    Nine months ago my daughter, Tal Malouhi, a student in high school, was arrested by one of the branches of the security for reasons we do not know until this moment and I do not know anything about her fate. Sir, I knocked on the doors of all the security agen..

  • Finding Bayt Across Borders of Stone

    Finding Bayt Across Borders of Stone

    No roads, not a single one, lead to the place where we had gotten ourselves.* 

    I “met” Anthony Shadid the only way someone like me, a mere reader, can meet a journalist she admires: I emailed him a fan letter. I sent him my short note through the New York Times website a..

  • The Real Me and the Hypothetical Syrian Revolution - Part 1

    The Real Me and the Hypothetical Syrian Revolution - Part 1

    The Syrian revolution undeniably belongs to the street. It’s rooted in the public realm where masses of physical bodies occupy the squares and real voices fill the air with defiance against the brutality of a relentless regime. The virtual realm of the revolution is a strong, second line of defe..

  • The Insha'at Exodus

    The Insha'at Exodus

    Nadia* is a beautiful young lady from a prominent family in Homs. Every day for months, she would stare at her closet in agony; she had nothing to wear. Her behavior was typical of millions of girls her age around the world, but unlike those millions of girls, she wasn’t on her way to meet frien..

  • While You Were Sleeping, Again

    While You Were Sleeping, Again

    Another early morning in Baba Amr, another late night here. My plan is to write a simple post from a few reports on the day’s events in Homs, the fifth consecutive day of shelling in Baba Amr. Keeping an eye on Skype and Twitter and my ears tuned in to Omar Shakir’s livestream broadcast, I begin..

  • One Morning in Homs

    One Morning in Homs

    It is nighttime here, and I am about to go to bed. Before I disconnect from Syria, I notice Omar is on Skype. I send him a message telling him that his video on Anderson Cooper tonight was impressive. I tell him that he makes me proud to be Syrian. I tell him that I wished I was with them in Hom..

  • Nothing But My Words

    Nothing But My Words

    “What are you getting out of this?” This is the question I have been asked over and over for the past ten months and three weeks by people in my real life. It is a legitimate question for all of us. What have all the hours we have spent tweeting and retweeting and Facebooking and blogging and wr..

  • Outside the Walls

    Outside the Walls

    Out of all the pieces of me, those little bricks that build what we call our identity, being from Aleppo is the one I can never change. Although I no longer live in the ancient northern Syrian city, Aleppo is the place I call home.

    Growing up, being from Aleppo was a source of extreme prid..

  • The Cell of Survival: Bara Sarraj

    The Cell of Survival: Bara Sarraj

    [This is the third part of Amal Hanano`s series, Portraits of a People.]

    In the field of evolutionary immunology, “it is important to recognize that every organism living today..

  • A Syrian President's Daughter: Hana Choucri Al-Kouatly

    A Syrian President's Daughter: Hana Choucri Al-Kouatly

    [This is the second part of Amal Hanano`s series, Portraits of a People.]

    In our dictator and monarch infested region, we have become accustomed to seeing t..

  • Framing Syria

    Framing Syria

    Over the last forty years, the Assad regime has mastered the method of burying our stories almost as well as burying our people. Our cities, like their residents, carry the scars of brutality, hiding decades of bloody secrets within their thick stone walls. One city in particular, Hama, lives wi..

  • Portraits of a People

    Portraits of a People

    In the end, after the terror, torture, and murder, the tyrant rules with his face. The people cannot escape it, his image is all-consuming, devouring our streets, our walls, our shops, our screens. His face erases all others. Either you become a reflective surface for his image, or you disappear..

  • A Syrian American in Paris

    A Syrian American in Paris

    Last week, on the day after the day Steve Jobs died to the rest of the world, on another bloody Friday in Syria, Mashaal Tammo was murdered. Tammo, a beloved Kurdish activist and leader, me..