Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury dies aged 76

Khoury had dedicated much of his writing to the Palestinian cause and taught at universities around the world.

Novelist Elias Khoury, one of Lebanon’s most renowned writers and a fervent advocate of the Palestinian cause, has died at the age of 76.

Khoury, a leading voice of Arab literature, had been ill for months and admitted and discharged from hospital several times over the past year until his death early on Sunday, said the Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily for which he worked.

Over several decades, Khoury produced a large body of work in Arabic that touched on the themes of collective memory, war and exile, alongside writing for newspapers, teaching literature and editing a publication linked to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Many of his books were translated into foreign languages, including French, English, German, Hebrew and Spanish.

One of his best-known novels, Gate of the Sun, tells the story of Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes in 1948 during the war that coincided with Israel’s foundation.