Qasim Tawfiq
Qasim Tawfiq (born January 27, 1954, in Jenin, Palestine) is a Jordanian novelist and short‑story writer who has lived most of his life in Amman. He studied literature at the University of Jordan, earning a BA, and after working in banking across Arab countries, he retired in 2013 to focus on writing. He began publishing stories in 1974, and his first short‑story collection appeared in 1977, It Is Time for Us to Rejoice.
His breakthrough novel is Mary Rose Crosses the City of the Sun, which drew wide attention and has been reprinted in Ramallah (2007) and Amman (2010). He is known for writing about Amman, a topic few Jordanian writers explored. In 2018 he won the Katara Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel Bleeding of the Little Bird, which was translated into English in 2019. Other notable works include A More Beautiful Land, Amman, One Last Return, Al Shindagha Novel, Stories of Peace, Oman, Peace, O Star, and The Stories of the Lover. His work has inspired many studies and theses, and many of his novels are freely available on his official website: qasemtawfiq.com.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:09 (CET).