A Lebanese novelist, playwright, and critic, born in Beirut, Lebanon. He wrote many novels that were translated into many languages, as well as a number of plays and screenplays. He worked as editor of several Lebanese newspapers and served as editor-in-chief of the weekly cultural supplement of the Lebanese daily newspaper An-Nahar. He's known for Out of Life and The Gate of the Sun: The Return. He died on 4 November 2009.