Collective residencies / QLGBTI+ / Olot
KHALED ALESMAEL
From Friday, 21 February 2020 to Friday, 28 February 2020
Bio
Syrian born journalist and writer, Khaled Alesmael graduated in English Literature in 2006 at Damascus University. His journalism has been highly awarded for his coverage of topics of culture, climate and migration. His debut novel Selamlik was translated into Swedish and published in 2018 with the publishing house Leopard, and has been widely acclaimed as a powerful account of an emergent Arab queer identity, in a society claiming freedom. It tells the story of a country at war through a homoerotic perspective. He became a Swedish citizen in 2018 and received an award for his short Coffee with Sukkar at Gothenburg Film Festival in 2019.
Project
I am currently writing a creative non fiction book (Arab toGay OR Arab toQueer) in which I examine how QLGBTI+ Arabs negotiate their Queer and Arab identities and how their inter-sectional subjectivity is framed by social class, politics, age, and their experience of exile. I am researching a case in Barcelona which I will follow during my stay.
My Green Boiler Jumpsuit
I decided to have my last trip with my green boiler jumpsuit, as a Danish friend called it, to Catalonia. I wanted a rough and practical visit. In Olot, I wrote The Queen Shams story from my next book, I cooked Syrian food for people never tried before, I meditated and met great folks: I never had met all that brightness and innocence in one gang called queer writers. I sneaked to Barcelona and hide under a street light, I walked at the sea and tasted the Sapore di Sale. I listened to Patti Smith and read Jean Genet. Now I am in London and just have given my green jumpsuit to the charity as I am sure that someone else needs to try something new.
