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{{Short description|Syrian writer}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Hanna Mina<br/>حنا مينة
| image = Hanna Mina smoking.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|3|9|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Latakia]], [[Alawite State]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2018|8|21|1924|3|9}}
| death_place = [[Damascus]], Syria
| language = [[Arabic language|Arabic]]
| occupation = [[Novelist]]
| nationality = [[Demographics of Syria|Syrian]]
| movement = [[Social Realism]]
}}
'''Hanna Mina''' ({{langx|ar|حنا مينة}}; 9 March 1924 – 21 August 2018) was a [[Syria]]n [[novelist]], described in ''[[Literature from the "Axis of Evil"]]'' as the country's "most prominent" writer.<ref name=Hanna>[[Words Without Borders]], ''[[Literature from the "Axis of Evil"]]'', {{ISBN|978-1-59558-205-8}}, 2006, pp.55-6: brief biography</ref>

His early novels belong to the movement of [[social realism]] in the [[Syrian literature|literature of Syria]], and focus on [[class conflict]]; his later works contain "a more symbolic analysis of class differences".<ref name=Hanna/> His writing on the suffering of ordinary people was partly inspired by his own experiences, alternately working as a [[stevedore]], [[barber]] and [[journalist]]; his autobiographical short story, "On the Sacks", was published in 1976.<ref name=Hanna/>

Several of his works written in [[Arabic]] are set during the period of the [[French Mandate of Syria]], or in the period immediately following [[History_of_Syria#Instability_and_growth:_independence_to_1970|independence]].<ref name=Hanna/> Mina has authored about 40 novels, varying in imaginary value and narrative significance. But his achievement lies in the foundation he laid for this literary genre. For his collective works and novels, Mina was awarded the Arab Writer's Prize in 2005.<ref name="Hanna" />

==Early life==
Born to a [[Arab Christians|Christian Arab]] family in [[Latakia]] in 1924,<ref name=akhbar>{{cite web|url=https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/5584|title=Hanna Mina: Syria's Old Man of the Sea|publisher=[[Al Akhbar (Lebanon)|Al Akhbar]]|date=24 March 2012|access-date=17 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418161106/https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/5584|archive-date=18 April 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Hanna Mina spent his childhood in one of the villages near [[Iskenderun]]. Following the occupation of Turkish forces in the district ([[Hatay State]]), he moved back to Latakia with his family.<ref name=syt>{{cite web|url=http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/iskenderun/6577-hanna-mina|title=Hanna Mina|publisher=Syria Times|date=7 July 2013|access-date=18 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418094300/http://syriatimes.sy/index.php/iskenderun/6577-hanna-mina|archive-date=18 April 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although with only an elementary school certificate, Mina used to write letters and petitions to the government on behalf of illiterates, and distributed the Communist ''Sawt al-Shaab'' (Voice of the People) newspaper alongside working as a barber.<ref name=akhbar/>

==Career==
In 1947, he moved to [[Beirut]] in search for a job, and later to [[Damascus]], where he began his literary career. In the 1950s, Mina joined the Damascus newspaper ''al-Inshaa'' as a trainee editor. He was paid a monthly salary of a mere 100 Syrian pounds and lived in relative poverty.<ref name="akhbar" />

He wrote several short stories, which brought him into literary circles, and he co-founded the Syrian Writers Union in 1951 and later became the editor- in-chief of ''al-Inshaa''.<ref name="syt" /> His first novel was ''[[The Blue Lamps]]'', published in 1954.<ref name="syt" /> Although slowly gaining fame and prestige and becoming one of Syria's renowned writers, he never stopped reflecting on the harsh reality of his earlier life, which he considered as "fuel" for his novels.<ref name="akhbar" /> Commenting on this experience, he said that "reality carves its inscriptions on human skin with a hot iron that leaves permanent marks and scars".{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

''[[White Ebony]]'' is a collection of his short stories published in 1976.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mina |first=Hanna |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4771150159 |title=The White Ebony |publisher=دمشق : اتحاد الكتاب العرب، 1976 [1396] |year=1976 |edition=1976 |language=Arabic |oclc=4771150159}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title="الأنبوسة البيضاء: : رواية/ - Qatar National Library - مكتبة قطر الوطنية" |url=http://link.qnl.qa/portal/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%A1--%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D9%86%D8%A7-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9/kI0UrdsG-iU/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924185847/http://link.qnl.qa/portal/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%A1--%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D9%86%D8%A7-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9/kI0UrdsG-iU/ |archive-date=2018-09-24 |access-date=2018-09-24}}</ref>

His 1977 novel ''[[The Swamp (novel)|The Swamp]]'', which invoked fragments of Mina's childhood in modern-day [[Hatay Province|Hatay province]] of [[Turkey]], was described by literary critic Salah Fadl as “the greatest autobiography in Arabic novel-writing, and the most abundant in brutal honesty and wealth of thought."<ref name=akhbar/> Mina's 1989 novel ''[[The End of a Brave Man]]'' (''Nihayat Rajul Shujaa'') was adapted into a 1994 television miniseries of the same name.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Salamandra |first1=Christa |title=A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria |date=2004 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-11041-1 |page=122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6UKhO5KJO4C&dq=Nihayat+rajul+shuja+hanna+mina&pg=PA122 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Joubin |first1=Rebecca |title=The Politics of Love: Sexuality, Gender, and Marriage in Syrian Television Drama |date=2013 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-8430-1 |pages=163–171 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUNPAQAAQBAJ&dq=Nihayat+rajul+shuja+hanna+mina&pg=PA164 |language=en}}</ref>

Among the works selected by the [[Project of Translation from Arabic]] (PROTA), his 1993 novel ''Fragments of Memory: A Story of a Syrian Family'' was translated into English and first published by [[University of Texas Press]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maier |first=John |date=1995 |title=Hanna Mina, Fragments of Memory: A Story of a Syrian Family, Project for the Translation of Arabic and the Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation Series (Austin: Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, 1993). Pp. 194. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/hanna-mina-fragments-of-memory-a-story-of-a-syrian-family-project-for-the-translation-of-arabic-and-the-modern-middle-east-literatures-in-translation-series-austin-center-for-middle-eastern-studies-at-the-university-of-texas-at-austin-1993-pp-194/E8797E5ACAFC03DDC8175EC797FAAE59 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |language=en |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=533–536 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800062693 |issn=1471-6380|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 2004, it was republished by [[Interlink Publishing|Interlink Books.]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mīnah |first=Ḥannā |url=http://archive.org/details/fragmentsofmemor0000mina |title=Fragments of memory : a story of a Syrian family |date=2004 |publisher=Northampton, Mass. : Interlink Books |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-56656-547-9}}</ref>

== Death ==
Mina died on 21 August 2018 in Damascus, aged 94.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alarabiya.net/ar/culture-and-art/2018/08/21/%D9%88%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D9%86%D8%A7-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%86-94-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%8B-.html|title=أوصى بأن لا يبكيه أحد.. وفاة الروائي السوري حنا مينه|work=Al Arabiya|language=ar|date=21 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1369626/renowned-syrian-novelist-hanna-mina-dies-94|title=Renowned Syrian Novelist Hanna Mina Dies at 94|last=Al-awsat|first=Asharq|website=aawsat.com|access-date=2018-08-21}}</ref>
==Legacy==
In [[Syria]], the Culture Ministry annually awards the Hanna Mina Prize for Literature.

== See also ==

* [[Syrian literature#Syrian national literature since the mid-20th century|Syrian literature since the 20th century]]
* [[Modern Arabic literature]]
* [[Leaving at Dusk|''Leaving at Dusk'']]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* [[iarchive:fragmentsofmemor0000mina|Fragments of Memory: A Story of a Syrian Family]], full text at [[Internet Archive]]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mina, Hanna}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Latakia]]
[[Category:Syrian novelists]]
[[Category:Syrian journalists]]

Hanna Mina - Revision history

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