Nazik Al-Malaika
The renowned poet Nazik Al-Malaika was born in Baghdad in 1922 into an educated family that appreciated literature. She began her studies at the Teachers’ Institute in 1944 and later enrolled at the Institute of Fine Arts to study music, graduating in 1949. She furthered her education at the University of Wisconsin in the United States, earning a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature in 1959. Upon her return to Baghdad, she held teaching positions at universities in Basra, Baghdad, and subsequently in Kuwait. In 1990, she moved to Cairo, where she lived until her passing in 2007 due to severe circulatory failure. Notably, Al-Malaika crafted the poem “The Cholera” in 1947, which is widely regarded as one of the pioneering works of free verse poetry. Some of her most prominent poetry collections include:
- Night Lover, published in 1947.
- Shards of Ash, published in 1949.
- Deep Currents, published in 1957.
- The Moon Tree, published in 1968.
- The Sea Changes Its Colors, published in 1970.
- The Tragedy of Life and a Song for Humanity, published in 1977.
- Prayer and Revolution, published in 1978.
Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab
Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab is renowned as one of the leading poets of free verse. His early writings in this style can be seen in the poem “Was It Love?” in which he competed with Nazik Al-Malaika for recognition as a pioneer in the free verse movement. Al-Sayyab adopted this writing style in the early 1950s after spending considerable time writing in a classical format. He was influenced by the English writing style of T.S. Eliot, particularly evident in his 1950 collection “Flowers and Myths.” Al-Sayyab published numerous notable works such as “The Blind Prostitute,” “Weapons and Children,” and “The Grave Digger,” all of which were structured in extended forms. In 1960, he released “The Song of the Rain,” followed by “The Sunken Temple” in 1962, “The House of Paddies” in 1963, and “The Shanasheel of the Gulabi” in 1964.
Salah Abdel Sabour
The poet Salah Abdel Sabour was born in 1931 in the city of Zagazig, Egypt. His full name is Muhammad Salah Al-Din Abdel Sabour Yusuf Al-Hakawati. He is recognized as one of the prominent figures in the free verse movement, significantly influenced by foreign culture. Abdel Sabour is one of the few who ventured into theorizing about free verse poetry and engaged in playwriting.
Ahamd Hegazi
Ahmed Abdel-Moaty Hegazi was born in Egypt and is known for his deep commitment to preserving the Quran. He obtained several degrees, including a diploma from the Teachers’ Institute in 1955 and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the New Sorbonne University in France in 1978. Additionally, he earned a diploma in advanced studies in Arabic literature in 1979.
Hegazi served as one of the professors of Arabic poetry at French universities and was a member of the Poetry Committee of the Supreme Council of Culture, the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and the Egyptian Journalist Syndicate. He held the position of deputy editor of “Sabah Al-Khayr” magazine and is regarded as one of the foremost poets in the modern poetry renewal movement. He was awarded the Greek-Egyptian Kavafis Prize in 1989. A number of his poetry collections have been translated, including “A City Without a Heart,” published in 1959, “Elegy for a Beautiful Age,” published in 1972, and “Concrete Trees,” published in 1989.