Hanadi Zarka

Hanadi Zarka is an acclaimed poet, writer, and political activist from Latakia, Syria. Her work has been translated into several languages, including English, French, Dutch, Danish, and German.

At the beginning of her literary career, Zarka wrote and published poetry for young adults and took part in literary festivals and events outside Syria, including France, Switzerland, and Denmark.

The books which Zarka published during the Syrian civil war were praised for reflecting the complexity of the human condition and speaking to her readership as individuals, rather than as victims of or fighters in a war.

Zarka has published six poetry collections Returning Chaos to its Place (2006), More Than What I Need(2008), The Heedlessness of Your Hands (2011), Alzheimer (2014), Life’s Quiet in the Cupboard (2016), and I Saw a Pale Cloud, I Heard Black Rain (2018). She has also published two studies in literary criticism- one on Omar Khayyam and one on Federico García Lorca.

Writing about different aspects of Syrian literature, art, politics, and life, Zarka’s articles have been published widely. Her political essays have strongly advocated for a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict, critical of radical Islamic groups and opposition leaders who tolerated them.

In 2011, alongside 52 other Syrian intellectuals, writers, political activists, and human rights defenders, Zarka was one of the co-founders of a movement called Ma’an (Together) for a free and democratic Syria.

In addition to her literary work, Zarka volunteered as a teacher to displaced children whose education was interrupted by the Syrian civil war.

Between 2022 and 2024, Hanadi Zarka was the ICORN resident in Berlin where she worked on the bilingual (Arabic and German) poetry collection Like a Heart at the House Entrance (2025).