Born in Baghdad in 1922 to a mother who was also a poet and a father who was a teacher, al-Malaika, the oldest among seven siblings, discovered love for literature early in life, writing her first poem at the age of 10.
She graduated in 1944 from the College of Arts in Baghdad, where she also studied music. Ten years later, she traveled to the United States to study and received a Master's degree in comparative literature from Wisconsin University.
In 1947, al-Malaika published her first collection of poems under the title "Night's Lover." She was greatly influenced by Shakespeare and Shelley, and was one of the first Arab writers to work in taf'ila (free verse) in the modern era. She spent 40 years teaching Arabic and literature in Iraqi schools and universities, and also wrote literary criticism.
Al-Malaika left Iraq in 1970, just two years after Saddam Hussein's Baath Party came to power. She lived in Kuwait until Saddam's 1990 invasion, when she left Kuwait City for Cairo.
From Herald Tribune's AP obituary. Read more here.
Details:
DOB: 1922-2007.
Country: Iraq/Kuwait/Egypt
Selected works:
Night's Lover (1947)
Qararat Al-Mawja (The Depth of the Wave, 1957),
Shajarat Al-Qamar (Moon Tree, 1978),
Lil-Sala wal- Thawra (For Prayer and Revolution, 1978)
Yughayir Alwanahu Al-Bahr (The Sea Changes Colour, 1976)
Complete Poems
Awards: Please enter awards here.
Website: Please enter website here; you may find the Hyperlink icon on tool bar useful here.
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