Mohammed Maghout

Mohammed Maghout was a renowned Syrian writer and poet, who is credited as the father of Arabic free verse poetry. He was born in 1934 in Salamiyah, a town in Syria with a large Isma'ili population. He was married to the poet Saniya Salih. He started writing poetry while in prison in the 1950s, where he was detained for his political views. He wrote his first poems on cigarette papers as a personal memoir of his prison experience, which later became revolutionary poetry. He had no formal education, but he had a vivid imagination, a mastery of words, and a sharp intuition. He wrote for theater, TV, and cinema, as well as poetry and prose. He collaborated with famous Syrian actors and comedians, such as Dureid Lahham and Nihad Qal'i, to produce some of the most popular and acclaimed theatrical works in the region, such as Kasak ya Watan (Toast to the homeland), Ghorbeh (Estrangement), and Dayat Tishreen (October's Village). His work combined satire with descriptions of social misery and malaise, and what he viewed as an ethical decline among rulers in the region. He was critical of injustice, totalitarianism, and oppression. He also expressed his love for his homeland, his people, and his culture. He was influenced by many literary and philosophical figures, such as Nietzsche, Kafka, Camus, and Rimbaud. He received many awards and honors for his work, such as the Al Nahar Lebanese Newspaper Award, the Saeed Aqel Award for Theatre, the Egyptian Experimental Theatre Medal, and the Al Fateh Medal from Libya. He died in 2006 in Damascus, at the age of 72, after suffering a heart attack. He left behind a rich legacy of poems, plays, and essays that transcended time and place.