Colette Khoury

She was born in Damascus, in the Bab Tuma quarter, into the notable al-Khoury family. On the year, the Arabic article is explicit: it gives 1354 AH / 1935 CE and calls this the correct date by her own statement in a press interview, as recorded in Nizar Abaza's dictionary of notable Syrian women and in Abd al-Ghani al-Atri's Hadith al-Abqariyat, whose first source was an autobiography she supplied herself, with al-Sawaf's Encyclopedia of Damascene Families agreeing; Abd al-Qadir Ayyash's dictionary gives 1936. The English article, giving 1931, reports her death at the age of 95. The museum follows the Arabic article's self-stated 1935 in her data record, with the status debated and all readings preserved. The Arabic article says she was born to a notable Christian family of the Greek Orthodox community; her grandfather's own Christianity is recorded in his record. ^{1 2}

She graduated from Damascus University with a BA in French literature and took a diploma from the school of literature in Beirut, and the Arabic article records that she lectured at the Faculty of Letters of Damascus University. Her literary career began in 1957 and spanned more than six decades. Her first book was a collection of poems in French, Vingt Ans (Beirut, 1958). In 1959 — dated 1961 in the English article's works list — she shocked the Arab world with Ayyam Ma'ah (Days With Him), the first novel by a woman to write audaciously about love; it was inspired by her love affair with the poet Nizar Qabbani. Layla Wahida (One Night, 1961), whose married heroine seeks herself through an extramarital relationship, was more controversial still. She wrote more than twenty novels as well as political and literary articles, among them collections about the October War of 1973 such as Luminous Days (1984). ^{2 1}

From 1990 to 1995 she served as an independent member of the Syrian parliament; the Arabic article describes her membership of the People's Council under President Hafez al-Assad as lasting eight years, and records her absolute loyalty to the Assad family and her support for the government when the Syrian revolution began. In 2008 she was appointed literary adviser to President Bashar al-Assad. Towards the end of her life she wrote for the government newspaper Al-Ba'ath. ^{2 1}

She was twice married and divorced to the Spanish musician Rodrigo de Zayas; they had one daughter, Mercedes Nara. The Arabic article adds a second marriage, in 1987, to the Damascene businessman Antoun Zalhaf. She died on 10 April 2026; the Arabic article places her death in Damascus on Friday 22 Shawwal 1447 AH, after an illness. ^{2 1}

Her grandfather's documented Christianity is her family background, and no text names Colette Khoury's own affiliation: the Arabic article frames her birth as into a Christian family of the Greek Orthodox community, the English article names no religion for her (its categories file her under Syrian Christians, which is a filing, not an attestation), and Wikidata records no religion value for her. The museum therefore records her faith as unknown, flagged, with the position stated exactly in her data record. ^{1 2 3}

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