Selamlik

“This beautifully written novel chronicles the life of Furat, a twentysomething queer Syrian man who escapes his homeland of Aleppo in search of true liberation and the wonderous possibilities of desire and love. The author, a Syrian journalist now based in London, debuts with this immersive, erotic, and memorable novel about overcoming the restrictions of a prejudicial culture to live life to its fullest.“―Bay Area Reporter

“A literary gem.” ―POV International

“Selamlik by Khaled Alesmael is a haunting exploration of identity, love, and survival amidst the backdrop of political turmoil in Syria. Through the lens of Furat, a young man navigating both his homosexuality and the chaos of war, Alesmael delivers a powerful narrative that resonates with raw emotion and stark reality.“―Qisetna

“Anyone who has read this novel will probably never again babble about ‘the refugees’ or politically correct ‘the fugitives’ in such a sweeping manner, but rather discover people in all their complexity. Literature can hardly achieve anything greater.” ―Marko Martin, DLF Culture

“Khaled Alesmael reminds me of Jean Genet, brutal and hopelessly romantic at the same time.” ―Jonas Gardell, Expressen

“Despite the difficult themes dealt with in the book, it is always full of humor and irony.” ―Henrik Bromander, Swedish Television

“In the novel Selamlik, the Syrian-Swedish writer Khaled Alesmael tells of curiosity and desire - and the winter landscape of Sweden.With a mixture of pleasant laconicism and narrative poignancy, Khaled Alesmael does not shy away from describing the horrors of civil war or the more tangible details of love between men. One can smell both the ‘slaughtered lemons’ from the trees of bombed Damascus and the mixture of sweat and castile soap in the catacombs of the hammams. All this without becoming pornographic, either in terms of horror or sex.” ―TAZ Berlin

“What does it mean to be a homosexual man in dictatorial pre-war Syria? The author Khaled Alesmael, who fled to Sweden, talks about this in his autobiographically grounded novel Selamlik: precise, crystalline and with amazing calm, without any lyrical and metaphorical exuberance.” ―Deutschlandfunk Kultur

“Selamlik, which means “a room only for men”, is Khaled Alesmael’s debut novel. Alesmael’s language is beautiful in its simplicity and manages to be powerful without great excesses.” ―Amnesty Press

“A future classic”― Dagens Nyheter

Khaled Alesmael is a writer and journalist from Syria, where he was co-founder of a major music radio station. Now based in London, his writings on sex, LGBTQ+, and migration - in both English and Arabic - have a dedicated international readership. Throughout his career, he has lived and worked in several capital cities in the Middle East and Europe and received the International Visitor Program to the US for his work as an environmental journalist. His debut novel Selamlik has been widely acclaimed and was shortlisted for the 2021 German SKOUTZ Award.