Nizar Qabbani

Nizar Qabbani was a Syrian poet, writer, and publisher who is considered to be one of the most influential and popular poets in the Arab world. He was born in Damascus in 1923 to a middle-class merchant family and was the grandnephew of the pioneering Arab playwright Abu Khalil Qabbani. He studied law at the University of Damascus and graduated in 1945. He then joined the Syrian Foreign Ministry and served as a diplomat in several countries, including Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Britain, China, and Spain. He resigned from his diplomatic career in 1966 and moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where he founded his own publishing company. He later lived in Geneva, Switzerland, and London, England, where he died in 1998. Qabbani's poetic style combines simplicity and elegance in exploring themes of love, eroticism, feminism, religion, and Arab nationalism. He wrote more than 20 collections of poetry, some of which were set to music and sung by famous Arab singers. He also wrote prose, essays, and letters. He is known for his innovative use of free verse and his expression of the Arab woman's voice and perspective. He was influenced by the tragic death of his sister, who committed suicide rather than marry a man she did not love, and by the political and social upheavals in the Arab world, especially the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Arab defeat in the 1967 war. He was a staunch critic of Arab regimes and leaders, and a supporter of democracy and human rights. He was also a lover of Arabic culture and language, and a defender of Arab identity and dignity. He received many awards and honors for his literary contributions, and is widely regarded as Syria's national poet.