BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON THE POET

 

 

- Sulaiman al‑Issa was born 1921 in the village of Noayriyeh ‑ Oronte orchards, situated 20 Km to the west of the historical city of Antakya .

- He received his first education under the mulberry tree shadowing the house yard . He learned the Koran, the famous preislamic poems ( Mu’allaqat ) which were hung in the Holy Ka'ba , the famous Mutanabbi collection of poetry, and a great many other Arabic poems. The village had no other school but the traditional Kuttab , which was also the poet’s home . His father lived and taught there.

- He started writing poetry at the age of ten and his first collection described the misery and weariness of the peasants .

-  His primary education took place in Antakya. When he started school he was so advanced that he was placed immediately into the fourth class . By that time the district of Al ‑Liwa , which included Antakya, was in a stage of revolution due to the Arab inhabitants discovering the plan of the French (who had a mandate in Syria at this time) to separate the area from Syria and offer it to Turkey .

- During his fifth and sixth grades in Primary school his poetry contributed to the demonstrations  and national fight of his fellow ‑ citizens of Liwa.

- After the separation of his native district he emigrated  to other parts of Syria to continue with his friends, the fight against the French Mandate . He continued his education in secondary schools  at Hama ; Lattakia and Damascus . In that period of his life he experienced the bitterness of homelessness and began to realize the importance for him of fighting for Arab unity, independence and freedom .

- He was imprisoned many times for his political poems and attitudes.

- He shared in the foundation of the Ba'th party While  still at secondary school in Damascus .

- Given an Iraqi scholarship , he attended a teacher training college in Bagdad.

- After graduation he returned to Syria to take up a post as teacher of Arabic language and literature in a secondary school in Aleppo .

- He lived in Aleppo from 1947 to 1967 teaching, Writing and sharing in the national struggle .

- In 1950 he married and had two sons and a daughter.

- In addition to Arabic and some Turkish ; he also speaks French and English .

- He has travelled extensively in the Arab world and has also visited many other countries .

- After the Arab ‑ Israeli war in 1967 he started writing for children and made it his primary concern .

- His biography for children written in poetry and then in prose , was entitled ‘I am telling you my childhood , O small ones’ His second autobiography was ‘The child Waïl in his search for his homeland’.

- With his wife Dr. Malake Abiad he contributed translations of many literary books ( from English and French into Arabic) mostly Algerian books originally written in French .

- In October 1982 he received the Afro – Asian Writers’ Union Lotus Prize for poetry .

- In 1984, his poetical works for children received the price of the Arab League, Educatinal, cultural, and Scientific Organization.

- In 1990, he was elected as a member of the Arab Language Academy (Damascus).

- In 2000, he received The Babatin Prize for poetical creativity.

 

 

 

Books by the poet

-     The Poetical works (4 volumes), Beirut, al-Mu’assassa al ‘Arabiyya,   1995.

-      The path of a life time (Autobiographical Highlights, Beirut, al-Mu’assassa   al-Arabiyya, 1996.

-      Al-Thumâlât (5 volumes), General Isntitution for the Book, Sanaa, 1999,   2004, 2005.

-      The Divan for children, Dar al-Fikr, Damascus, 1999.

-      The Divan of Yémen, General Institution for the Book, 1999.

-      The Divan of Palestine, Palestine’s House, Damascus, 1999.

-      The Divan of Algeria, Algier, 1995.

-      The Divan of Libanon, Ministry of culture, Damascus, 2006.

-      The Woman in my poetry, Abu Dhabbi, 1998.

-      Collections of Stories and tales for children, with his wife Malaka Abiad
and other colleagues, Dar Tlass, and Dar al-Fikr, Damascus.

 

Books by the poet translated into English

-      Walker, Brenda, The Butterfly and other poems, Dar Tlass, 1984.

-      Kamel & Miqdad, Children This is my childhood, Dar Al-Hikma, London,   1992.