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Samir El-Youssef (Arabic: سمير اليوسف) (born 1965) is a Palestinian-British writer and critic, who was born in Rashidieh, a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, where he lived until he was ten, before moving to Sidon, Lebanon.[1] El-Youssef's father is a Sunni and his mother is from the only Shia Palestinian family.[1] He emigrated to Cyprus in 1989, and since 1990 has been living in London, where he studied philosophy and gained a Master of Arts degree from the University of London. In 2000, he was granted British citizenship.[1] He writes in both Arabic and English, and some of his work has been translated into German, Italian, Greek and Norwegian. In 2004, he co-authored a book with Israeli author Etgar Keret, called Gaza Blues: Different Stories.[2]
His 2007 book The Illusion of Return is his first novel written in English. He is also an essayist with a wide range of interests including literature, politics, philosophy and cultural studies. His essays and reviews have appeared in Arabic periodicals and newspapers such as the London-based Al-Hayat, as well as on openDemocracy.net,[3] The Guardian's Comment is Free[4] and in the New Statesman.[5]
In 2005, the Swedish branch of the organisation International PEN granted El-Youssef the Tucholsky award, named after Kurt Tucholsky and given each year to a writer or publisher who is either being persecuted or threatened, or living in exile.[1] [6] [7] [8]