A famous Palestinian author is named Issa J. Boullata. Not only is he a writer, but he is a scholar and translates Arabic literature. Issa was born in Jerusalem on the 29th of February in 1929. He has a BA in Arabic and Islamic studies as well as a PhD in Arabic literature. Not only is he a well known author, but he has been known to be a very influential teacher. After teaching graduate courses about Arabic literature and Quranic Studies, he retires with the title of Emeritus Professor. Issa also was awarded the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award twice. Today he lives in Montreal and is a member of many organizations like the Radius of Arab American Writers Inc. Currently, he is the editor of Banipal. His most well known work is “Modern Arab Poets”, “The First Well”, “The Game of Forgetting”, and Ghada Samman;s The Square Moon”. Recently, many of his short stories were published in the book, “A Retired Gentleman and Other Stories”.
Saleem Dabbour was born on September 18, 1970. He is a Palestinian novelist, scenarist, director, producer, and a film critic. He became very famous due to writing “Shu fi Ma fi” and “Shubak al-Ankab”. Saleem was born in Jalazone, Palestine. In 1998, he was given Dutch citizenship because of the Queen Beatirx. He attended Bir Zeit University and graduated with a BA in English Literature. He first started getting recognition for his writing at the age of twelve. When he was twelve years old, one of his poems was published in the Al-Quds. Al-Quds was a well known Palestinian newspaper. When he attended Bir Zeit University in the Netherlands, Saleem was the editor for English and Arabic student magazines. When he was twenty two years old, Dabbour wrote his first theater play called, “Khaliluha”. Not only did he write it, but he produced and directed it as well. “Khaliluha” was a play that called social customs of early marriage into question. During his lifetime, Saleem has won many literary prizes like the “First Prize for Short Prose”. Recently, Saleem was voted into the top five for “Cultural Personalities in Palestine in Means”. Today he is a CEO for IMPACT. IMPACT is a nonprofit organization that creates visual productions for social change.
Another famous Palestinian author is Kamal Nasser. Kamal was born in Bir Zeit during the year of 1925. He was raised in a Palestinian Christian family household. He attended Bit Zeit University where he majored in political science. After he graduated, Kamal became a teacher in Jerusalem and then became a journalist after the Arab-Israeli War. He helped start up the ,militant newspaper, “Al-Jil Al-Jadid”. During the year of 1956, Kamal was elected to be a member of Jordanian Parliament for the Ramallah district. However, he was not able to serve his full term because he was expelled from Parliament. He was expelled because of a marital law period in Jordan. After being expelled, Kamal became an editor for a PLO newspaper. After be an editor for that newspaper for awhile, Kamal became a spokesman for them too. In 1973, Kamal was assassinated by Israel Defense Forces during the raid on Lebanon. In order to honor Kamal, the main auditorium at Birzeit University was named after him.
A well known Palestinian actress is named Hiam Abbass. She was born in Nazareth on November 30, 1960. Her career really started when she starred in some European films like Haifa. She was able to move to Hollywood basically because of Steven Spielberg. She was in his movie “Munich”. “Munich” is a political thriller about the mother of a terrorist. Hiam is more well known for her parts in “Satin Rouge”, “Haifa”, and “Paradise Now”. Recently, Hiam has directed two short movies called, “Le Pain” and “La Danse Eternelle”.
Sources:
http://www.thehypertexts.com/Kamal%20Nasser%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio%20Nakba%20Palestinian.htm
I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but all the authors you choose are men and the performer you choose is a woman. Is this mean that in Palestine, men are more traditional than women? What I mean is that are women in Palestine more willing to show themselves on stages, such as work as actress? Are men in Palestine are more willing to show themselves through their works? Nevertheless, based on the three authors you list, it seems like author is a sub job in Palestine. There are some authors only do writing and selling their books to live. But those three authors, two of them are teacher and the other one is a CEO of a company. Does it mean that in the Palestine, even in the Middle East, being an author is a hobby? In the studying of past weeks, I know that the Middle East people are very loyal to their religions. So, I think there may be a religion reason that somehow give a rule of what can write or not. Though that Palestine and Middle East countries are being open day by day, they are still not as open as some other countries such as America. So authors in the Middle East may somehow be narrowed their creation of writing in their countries. Can this be a reason that those people choose another job as their main job?
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I find interesting is that it seems to be common that many writers in Middle Eastern countries choose to go to school outside of their native country, move out of their native country or face some kind of exile from their native country. I think that writing in the Middle East is often subversive, as writers often write about topics that have political tones. Or it just may be that many topics are considered controversial by the governments. I agree with Yifei that there also seems to be a trend that more men are recognized authors, especially when it comes to older ones. I had not heard of Kamal Nasser but he seems pretty significant. If you google him, images of him with Yassir Arafat appear. I think that publications like the ones he was involved in are often employed in times of revolution. The paper he wrote for was described as a “militant newspaper” which I think goes to show how much the circulation of ideas is used and how subversive it can be. I think it is common for writers to be intensely politically active in the Middle East. I have heard of Hiam Abbass before. I have never seen Paradise Now but I would like to. I think she starred in a movie based on the book The Lemon Tree, which I have read. Is she considered controversial in Palestine?
ReplyDeleteYifei and Leila have both made important observations. Yes, writing in the Middle East is very subversive, and it is both difficult to make a living as a writer at all, and as a woman, one must fight many social conventions (the female Syrian author Ghada Samman is an exception, but the struggle of female writers is an important theme in her works). One of the things I wanted to make sure came through in the class assignments for the literature day is that writing in the Middle East which is critical of the government very often leads to some sort of imprisonment or exile, at least temporarily. One other thing I wanted to point out is that Issa Boullata did not write "The Square Moon", Ghada Samman wrote it and Boullata translated it from Arabic to English. He won an award for the translation. "Paradise Now" is a very thought-provoking film as is "Satin Rouge" and I highly recommend them both. Hiam Abbass is a very talented actress.
ReplyDeleteAlso...if you are interested in more information on Ghada Samman, you can check Josh's Syria Blog.
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