Harvest 2023: The departure of creators who left indelible cultural imprints

The late Muhammad Anani, Sheikh of the Interpreters (Archive)

Tuesday 2 January 2024 / 19:21

After a busy creative life that included more than 130 books, in Arabic and English, between translations and works as a translator, writer, playwright, critic and academic, Mohammad Anani died at the age of 84. “Dean of Translators” and “Sheikh of Arabic Translators.”

Anani was born in Rashid, Behaira Governorate. He received a BA in English and Literature from Cairo University in 1959, a MA from the University of London in 1970, and a PhD from the University of Reading in 1975.

Syrian poet Nasir al-Asma has died at the age of 93. He is considered one of the first poets who contributed to the development of modern Arabic poetry.

Al-Azma was born in 1930 in Damascus. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Damascus and then in 1969 received a PhD in Literary Philosophy from the University of Portland, USA. Professor at American universities, professor of modern and comparative literature at King South University in Riyadh, and co-founded a poetry magazine in 1957.

Prominent people who passed away in 2023 include French author Michel Bramour, famous for writing historical novels and whose literary career included more than 100 books, at the age of 101.
2023 also saw the death of Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Ao, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994 at the age of 88. In a noble humanitarian message, this novelist used his fame to fight against weapons and nuclear power.
Haider Haider, the Syrian writer who died at the age of 87, left behind a large series of books, including the novel “A Feast for Seaweed: Ode to Death,” which sparked controversy two decades ago and was condemned by religious institutions. He received the Ghazan Kanafani Medal for the Arabic Novel in 2022.
The cultural scene also lost Alain Touraine, one of the most important sociologists in Paris. He was described as a left-wing thinker but admired by the right. and sociologists critical of Western modernism in general.
In the world of fine art and its celebrities, Françoise Gilot, Picasso's spouse and muse, who bore him two children, has died at the age of 101.
American author Cormac McCarthy, 89, author of the novel “The Road,” died in 2006.
In America, Syrian novelist and sociologist Halim Barakat has died at the age of 90. Among his most important works are “Alienation in Arab Culture…The Human Site Between Dream and Reality” in 2006, “The Twentieth Century in Civil Society” 2000, and “Identity and Modernity and the Crisis of Consciousness.” “Tradition” in 2004, in addition to novels and short stories.

Suddenly, after being celebrated, author and novelist Hamdi Abu Jalil died in Egypt.

Abu Jalil was born in Fayoum in 1967 and died on June 10, 2023. He was a novelist and short story writer, and his original name was Hamdi Abu Hamid Isa. His novel “The Actor” won the Naguib Mahbooz Award in 2008. And his first publication was a collection of short stories published in 1997. His second collection, “Things Folded with Extreme Care” in 2000, titled “Swarms of Ants”, won several literary awards.

Historian Peter Hellyer, a writer and researcher who worked on media, culture and antiquities in the Emirates and was the last editor-in-chief of the “Emirates New” newspaper, has died after 75 years.
Syrian writer and theater critic Abdel Fattah Khalaji has also died at the age of 85. He is considered one of Syria's most important literary and cultural figures and has received many awards and honors.

Czech-French writer Milan Kundera is known for his satirical style that explores the human condition and satire that explores the human condition. He passed away at the age of 94. Kundera is one of the rare authors whose works were covered while he was still alive. In 2011 the collection “La Pleiade” and most of his works were translated into Arabic.
Among those departing in 2023 were the German novelist Martin Walser, who died at the age of 96, one of the icons of contemporary literature in his country, and the Palestinian writer and poet Zakaria Muhammad at the age of 73, a journey full of gifts in poetry and prose.

Talal Salman, publisher of the Lebanese Al-Safir newspaper, has died at the age of 85 after a media career full of successes and distinguished writings in Lebanon and the Arab world.

Poet Karim al-Iraqi died at the age of 68. He composed many successful musical works and his poems have been sung by Kasem al-Sahar and others.
Saudi novelist and media writer Hani Naqshbandi has also died at the age of 60. Born in Madinah in 1963. He rose through the ranks and contributed to several journalistic positions until he became the Editor-in-Chief of Saidadi Magazine and Politics magazine. For the founding of Al-Rijal magazine.
Elias Al-Dairi is a Lebanese storyteller and journalist who published “The Last Man” in 1961, “The Wall of Silence” in 1963, “The Road to Morena” in 1969, “The Dead Night Dismounts” in 1979, and “The Mistake”. In 1971”, and “The Dead Night Dismounts” in 1971 also disappeared. In 1982 The Wolf's Return to Al-Artuk” and it was called “The Revenge of Disappointment”.
Syrian writer and poet Khaled Khalifa has died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 59. Hailing from the town of Maryam, north of Aleppo, Khalifa was known in Syrian cultural circles for several Syrian series. It was widely popular in the early nineties and he became famous after writing his novel “Fame of Hate” which was translated into 6 languages.
In London, the novelist Leila Balbaki, one of the most famous Arab writers who was tried in Beirut in the 1960s, died because of her first novel, “I Live”, published in 1958 by the magazine “Poetry”.

Egyptian novelist Abd al-Jubeir, born in 1948 in Esna, Luxor Governorate, died at the age of 75. His fantasy and short story world is characterized by simplicity and spontaneity. Expressing the narrative language, expressing the human sufferings facing life's crises in his works.
Abdul Aziz Saud Al-Babdeen, the Kuwaiti poet who chaired the board of trustees of the Abdul Aziz Saud Al-Babdeen Cultural Foundation and the Al-Babdeen Group for Poetry Creativity, has died.
Antonio Negri, the Italian philosopher who called for alternative globalization, has died in Paris at the age of 90.

Negri was born in Padua in 1933 and was active in Catholic Action before joining the Italian Socialist Party in 1956. He occupied a prominent place in the new Italian left, serving as professor of state theory at the University of Padua. Became a theorist and activist in the “other labor movement”.