Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, also known as al-Shahīd al-Khāmis, was an Iraqi philosopher, and the ideological founder of the Islamic Dawa Party, born in al-Kadhimiya, Iraq. He was father-in-law to Muqtada al-Sadr, a cousin of Muhammad Sadeq al-Sadr and Imam Musa as-Sadr. His father Haydar al-Sadr was a well-respected high-ranking Shi'a cleric. His lineage can be traced back to Muhammad through the seventh Shia Imam Musa al-Kazim. Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was executed in 1980 by the regime of Saddam Hussein along with his sister, Amina Sadr bint al-Huda.
Mohamed Zafzaf was a Morrocan Arabic-language novelist and poet. He played a pivotal role in the development of Moroccan literature in the second half of the 20th century and, due to his contributions, came to be known by such titles as "the godfather of Moroccan literature", "the Moroccan Tolstoy", "the Moroccan Dostoyevsky" and as "our great author" among his Moroccan peers.
Ghadah Al-Samman is a Syrian writer, journalist and novelist born in Damascus in 1942 to a prominent and conservative Damascene family. Her father was Ahmed Al-Samman, a president of the University of Damascus. She is distantly related to poet Nizar Qabbani, and was deeply influenced by him after her mother died at a very young age.
Syrian literature is modern fiction written or orally performed in Arabic by writers from Syria since the independence of the Syrian Arab Republic in 1946. It is part of the historically and geographically wider Arabic literature. Literary works by Syrian authors in the historical region of Syria since the Umayyad era are considered general Arabic literature. In its historical development since the beginnings of compilations of the Quran in the 7th century and later written records, the Arabic language has been considered a geographically comprehensive, standardized written language due to the religious or literary works written in classical Arabic. This sometimes differs considerably from the individual regionally spoken variants, such as Syrian, Egyptian or Moroccan spoken forms of Arabic.
Yousef Al-Mohaimeed, is a Saudi Arabian writer and journalist who has published several novels and short story collections in Arabic, and has been translated into English, Russian, Italian, Spanish and German.
Nouzad Ja'adan, is a Syrian poet and writer.
Fawwaz Tuqan is a Jordanian-Palestinian poet, novelist and professor. He was born on 6 September 1940 to a Palestinian family in Jerusalem. His father is Ahmad Abdul Fattah Tuqan, a former Prime Minister of Jordan.
Youssef Rakha is an Egyptian writer. His work explores language and identity in the context of Cairo, and reflects connections with the Arab-Islamic canon and world literature. He has worked in many genres in both Arabic and English, and is known for his essays and poems as well as his novels.
Ali Mumtaz al-Daftary was an Iraqi nationalist-oriented politician, held several posts in the Kingdom of Iraq, including parliamentary and ministerial positions.
Mahmoud Kassem was an Alexandria-born writer, translator, film critic, and professor. He is best known for his literary verses of children's books, novels, essays, and literary and artistic encyclopaedias. He has received numerous Egyptian and Arabic awards in children's writing and radio drama, most recently the Best Literary Study Award entitled "Arabic Literature Written in French."
Ziyad Jamil Abdel Fattah is a Palestinian politician, writer, journalist and novelist, born in Tulkarm, Palestine. He is one of the leaders of the Fatah movement, founder of the Palestinian News Agency, a member of the Palestinian National Council in the Palestine Liberation Organization for several sessions, and the former president of Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), the Palestinian General Authority for Consultations, and the Palestinian National Library. Abdel Fattah was very close to late president Yasser Arafat, and he witnessed all the events on his side. Abdel Fattah has been dubbed "the legend of the Palestinian revolution media."
Mahmoud Saeed al-Karmi was a Palestinian writer, scholar of Arabic language, poet, and political journalist. He is considered one of the Symbols of the national movement in Palestine and Jordan. He was born in Tulkram in Palestine for well-known family, his father is Saeed Alkarmi, his brothers are, Abdulkareem, Hassan, Abd al-Ghani and Ahmad Shakir. He was Graduated from Al Azhar in Arabic language. He worked in Arabic language field in Egypt and Eritrea, Somalia, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan for many years. He worked also in Journalism. He was assassinated by his political opponents in Beirut.
Muhammad Sa'id al-Saggar was an Iraqi poet and calligrapher. He was born in Miqdadiyah in the Diyala Governorate in 1934. He used to be a painter; he ran a publishing house in Paris since 1978, and has been a journalist since 1955. He published his literature and critical articles in many newspapers and magazines. He has published over 14 books of poetry, theatre, the short story, linguistics, art, and other disciplines. He is arguably the most distinguished Iraqi artist-calligrapher in the 21st century. al-Saggar died in Paris on March 23, 2014.
Mahmoud El-Saadany, also transliterated as Mahmud Al-Saadani or al or el Saadani or Sa'dani was an Egyptian satirical writer and journalist. He is considered one of the pioneers of satirical writing in the Arab press. He is the older brother of the actor Salah El-Saadany. He participated in editing and founding a large number of Arab newspapers and magazines in Egypt and abroad. He headed the editorship of Sabah Al-Khair, an Egyptian magazine in the sixties. As a Nassirist, he also participated in political life during the reign of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and was imprisoned during the reign of Anwar Sadat after he was convicted of participating in a coup attempt.
Mahmoud Al-Wardani is an Egyptian writer, novelist, storyteller and journalist. He participated in the October War in 1973, co-founded the newspaper Akhbar Al-Adab. Some of his short stories where translated to French and English.
Fatih Abd Al Salam is an Iraqi writer, novelist, storyteller and journalist, born in Mosul. He graduated from the Department of Arabic Language, Faculty of Arts in the University of Mosul. He was assigned as a teaching assistant at the college, then get a master's degree in Arabic literature about a study he presented entitled “The Rural Personality in the Stories of Yusef Idris,” and then he get a doctorate for a thesis he presented entitled “Dialogue in the Iraqi Novel.” His journey began with writing stories at the end of the seventies of the twentieth century, and he also worked for Al-Zaman International newspaper, then became chief editor of its international edition in London, and moved between many Arab and European countries, and he has a daily column in Al-Zaman International newspaper entitled “Signature”. He has published many books in literature and politics in addition to his fiction and fiction works, and some of his books have been translated into English and Spanish.
Imad Abdul Salam Raouf was an Iraqi historian, investigator, and thinker.
Hani Muhammad-Ali al-Rahib was a Syrian novelist and literary academic who wrote a number of distinguished novels. The Defeated was his first novel, which was published in 1961 when he was 22 years old. In the same year, he won the Al-Adab magazine literature award. His second novel was titled A Crack in a Long History (1970) then came A Thousand and Two Nights in 1977, followed in the early 1980s by The Epidemic, which some critics chose as one of the 100 most important Arab novels published in the twentieth century, according to Al-Faisal Magazine.
Isa Hasan al-Yasiri is an Iraqi-Canadian poet. He was born in a village in southern Iraq, located near the town of Al-Kumait in the Maysan Governorate. He completed his primary education between the village school and Al-Kumait school, and intermediate and higher education in the Teachers' House in Al-Amarah. After graduating, he worked in education, radio and literary journalism. Among his generation, Al-Yasiri is distinguished in his poetry and personal life for exclusivity and independence from the Iraqi Ba'athist authority. He left his country in the fall of 1998, and lived in Jordan for two and a half years before arriving in Canada at the beginning of 2001 and moving to Montreal. He has published approximately eight poetry collections, beginning in 1973.
10 Books That Were Almost Lost to History: Saddam City (I Am the One Who Saw) by Mahmoud Saeed Saddam City is a scathing, Kafkaesque indictment against Saddam Hussein's regime and the modern world's tendency to drift toward tyranny. Saeed, who was a political prisoner three times over and whose work was often banned or destroyed, hid the early unpublished pages of this novel (along with remarkable others) in plastic bags in the tank of his toilet before fleeing Iraq with them.
