Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Majd Kayyal (1990-), is a Palestinian author, writer and journalist, born in the city of Haifa in the Palestinian interior. Recipient of the Abdul Mohsen Al-Qattan Award for Young Literature in 2016. He has published two literary works and many researches and articles.
Majd Kayyal was born in Haifa to a displaced family from the village of Al-Birwa. Kayyal holds a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2011, he traveled on board the Canadian Liberation Ship, in addition to another ship called the Irish Freedom, as part of the Freedom Waves flotilla aimed at breaking the siege on the Gaza Strip. However, the Israeli naval forces intercepted the flotilla and prevented it from sailing to the Gaza Strip, and arrested those on board the ships, including the activist Majd Kayyal. In 2014, at the invitation of As-Safir newspaper, Majd Kayyal traveled to Beirut to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the newspaper. When he returned to the country, the Israeli security forces arrested him and took him handcuffed to his family’s home in Haifa. He was then thrown into a cell for six days, during which he was interrogated before being referred to house arrest. With restrictions, including banning travel outside the country.
Majd Kayyal writes for many Palestinian and Arab websites, such as As-Safir, Mitras, Arab 48, Fasaha and Qudita, in the field of politics and cultural criticism. Kayal authored his first book, The Tragedy of Mr. Matar (2016), a 112-page book published by Dar Al-Ahlia Amman. The novel follows Janner’s nightmarish novel, and it also has a variety of styles. It discusses a historical reality in a philosophical, religious and gnostic language. The writer won the Abdul Mohsen Al-Qattan Award for Young Writer for the year 2015 for this novel. In the world of children, Majd wrote a collection of poems for children sung by Raneen Hanna and composed by Faraj Suleiman. He also wrote poetry in the Palestinian dialect for an album sung and released by Faraj Suleiman. In 2019, Kayal published his novel Death in Haifa on Dar Al-Ahlia. The novel is located in 176 on the middle piece. As for the cover, it was designed by the artist Zuhair Abu Shayeb. The images of death in the novel differ from criminal death, death from love, and monotonous death, which is presented in a fictional and sometimes theatrical way. Stories in Public Grief is a collection of stories written by Majd Kayyal, directed by Kholoud Bassel, and performed on a stage in Haifa. It is about that sadness in which feelings of remorse, grief, loss of hope, and lack of self-esteem confront every human being.
Publications and awards
The Tragedy of Mr. Matar - Novella.
Death in Haifa (2019)
Short Stories - Stories of Public Grief (2019)
Songs for children entitled: My Heart is a Forest (2016)
Album Songwriter: Sweeter Than Berlin (2020)
Writer of Children's Songs Album: Fahim (2021)
Achievements and Awards
Awarded Abdul Mohsen Qattan Award (2015)
- Years in active
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