Gharib Asqalany’s real name is Ibrahim el Zant. His pseudonym (meaning stranger from Asqalan), is a reference to his 1947 birth in Majdal Asqalan, & his family’s migration from it in 1948 to the Gaza strip. Asqalan is now emptied of all its original Palestinian inhabitants, & renamed Ashqelon.

Asqalany obtained a BSc. in Agronomy from Alexandria University in 1969, a BA in Islamic Studies from Cairo University in 1983, & worked in Syria for four years as an agricultural engineer. He was forbidden by the Israelis from working in Agronomy in Gaza, and taught instead, for 20 years in Gaza secondary schools. He now works at the Palestinian ministry of Culture in Gaza City. He writes a weekly column for the daily Al Hayat al Jadida.

He was awarded the Short Story Award in 1977 by Bethlehem University, and by the Palestinian Writers’ Union in 1990. He was among the selection of Palestinian writers participating in the 1997 Palestinian Cultural Spring/Belles Etrangéres manifestations in France.