Nazik Al-Malaika

{{Infobox writer

| name = Nazik Al-Malaika

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = {{lang|ar|نازك الملائكة}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|08|23}}

| birth_place = Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|06|20|1923|08|23}}

| death_place = Cairo, Egypt

| resting_place =

| occupation =

| language = Arabic

| nationality = Iraqi

| ethnicity =

| citizenship =

| education =

| alma_mater =

| period =

| genre =

| subject = Poetry

| movement =

| notableworks =

| spouse =

| partner =

| children =

| relatives =

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards =

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| website =

| portaldisp =

}}

Nazik al-Malaika ({{langx|ar|نازك الملائكة}}; 23 August 1923 – 20 June 2007[http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/20/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Obit-Al-Malaika.php International Herald Tribune]) was an Iraqi poet. Al-Malaika is noted for being among the first Arabic poets to use free verse.[https://www.theguardian.com/worldlatest/story/0,,-6724867,00.html AP via The Guardian, "Iraq Poet Nazik Al-Malaika Dies at 85" June 21, 2007]

Early life and career

Al-Malaika was born in Baghdad to a cultured family.{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320163904 |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.11611.46880|year=1949|author1=Mudar Ahmed Abdulsattar|title=‫‬رسائل نازك الملائكة الى المربية الفاضلة اديبة محمد سعيد الهلالي رحمهما الله 1949 - 1950|publisher=Unpublished}} Her mother Salma al-Malaika was also a poet, and her father was a teacher. She wrote her first poem at the age of 10. During her life, she studied English and French literature, Latin, and Greek poetry.{{Cite web |last=Mohammed |first=Amthal |date=April 2020 |title=Nazik Al-Malaika: Perusals and Translations |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340634111 |access-date=2023-05-06}} Al-Malaika graduated in 1944 from the College of Arts in Baghdad and later completed a master's degree in comparative literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a Degree of Excellence.[http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2CD6B305-D0A4-4A13-ADDF-AC5488268C99.htm aljazeera.net flash] She entered the Institute of Fine Arts and graduated from the Department of Music in 1949. In 1959 she earned a Master of Arts in Comparative Literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States, and she was appointed professor at the University of Baghdad, the University of Basrah, and Kuwait University.

Career

Al-Malaika taught at a number of schools and universities, most notably at the University of Mosul.

Leaving Iraq

Al-Malaika left Iraq in 1970 with her husband Abdel Hadi Mahbooba and family, following the rise of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Iraq to power. She lived in Kuwait until Saddam Hussein's invasion in 1990. Al-Malaika and her family left for Cairo, where she lived for the rest of her life. Towards the end of her life, al-Malaika suffered from a number of health issues, including Parkinson's disease.

She died in Cairo in 2007 at the age of 83.

Works

"The Nights Lover" ({{lang|ar|عاشقة الليل|rtl=yes}}), her first book of poetry, after her graduation;
"The Cholera" ({{lang|ar|الكوليرا|rtl=yes}}) (1947) is considered by critics as a revolution in modern Arabic poetry;
"Shrapnel and Ashes" ({{lang|ar|شظايا ورماد|rtl=yes}}) (1949);
"Bottom of the Wave" ({{lang|ar|قرارة الموجة|rtl=yes}}) (1957);
"Tree of the Moon" ({{lang|ar|شجرة القمر|rtl=yes}}) (1968);
"The sea changes its color" ({{lang|ar|"يغير ألوانه البحر"}})(1977)Maquis Who's Who, 2006 "Nazik Al-Malaika" and Guardian Op Cit.

Influence on other artists

One of her poems, Medinat al Hub, inspired the Iraqi artist and scholar, Issam al-Said to produce an artwork with the same name.Chorbachi, S., Issam El-Said: Artist and Scholar, Issam El-Said Foundation, 1989, p. 88

One of her poems, New Year, inspired the Lebanese Palestinian artist Jassem el Hindi to produce his performance Laundry of Legends.{{Cite web |title=Laundry of Legends I — Jassem Hindi |url=https://jassemhindi.cargo.site/Laundry-of-Legends-I |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=jassemhindi.cargo.site |language=en}}

Translation in other languages

= English =

Emily Drumsta translated a selection of Al-Malaika's poems into English, collected in a book titled Revolt Against The Sun.{{cite book|last1=Al-Malaika|first1=Nazik|last2=Drumsta|first2=Emily|title=Revolt Against The Sun: The Selected Poetry of Nazik Al-Mala'ika: A Bilingual Reader|date=29 October 2020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgQHEAAAQBAJ|publisher=Saqi|publication-date=2020|isbn=978-0863563522}}

= Nepali =

Some of Al-Malaika's poems were translated into Nepali by Suman Pokhrel, and collected along with the works of other poets in an anthology titled Manpareka Kehi Kavita.{{cite book|last1=Akhmatova|first1=Anna|author-link1=Anna Akhmatova|last2=Świrszczyńska|first2=Anna|author-link2=Anna Świrszczyńska|last3=Ginsberg |first3= Allen |author-link3=Allen Ginsberg|last4=Agustini |first4=Delmira |author-link4=Delmira Agustini|last5= Farrokhzad |first5=Forough |author-link5=Forough Farrokhzad|last6= Mistral |first6=Gabriela|author-link6=Gabriela Mistral| last7= Jacques |first7=Jacques |author-link7=Jacques Prévert|last8=Mahmoud |first8= Mahmoud|author-link8=Mahmoud Darwish| last9=Al-Malaika |first9= Nazik|author-link9= Nazik Al-Malaika|last10=Hikmet |first10=Nazim|author-link10=Nazim Hikmet|last11=Qabbani |first11= Nizar|author-link11=Nizar Qabbani| last12=Paz |first12=Octavio |author-link12=Octavio Paz| last13=Neruda |first13= Pablo |author-link13=Pablo Neruda|last14=Plath |first14=Sylvia |author-link14=Sylvia Plath|last15=Amichai |first15=Yehuda|author-link15=Yehuda Amichai|translator-last1=Pokhrel|translator-first1=Suman|translator-link1=Suman Pokhrel|year=2018|title=Manpareka Kehi Kavita|script-title=ne:मनपरेका केही कविता|trans-title=Some Poems of My Choice|language=Nepali|edition=First|location=Kathmandu|publisher=Shikha Books|publication-date=2018|pages=174}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/4724485-nepali-translation-of-anna-swir-s-poem-myself-and-my-person|title=म र मेरो म (Nepali translation of Anna Swir's poem "Myself and My Person")}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/4724900-nepali-translation-of-anna-swir-s-poem-i-kn|title = भित्तामा टाउको बजारेँ मैले (Nepali translation of Anna Swir's poem "I Knocked My Head against the Wall")}}{{cite web|url=|title=अनुवादमा 'मनपरेका केही कविता'|trans-title=Manpareka Kehi Kavita in Translation |first=Geeta|last=Tripathi|publisher=Kalashree |pages=358–359|website=|year=2018|issue=7}}

References

Bibliography

{{cite book|last1=Al-Malaika|first1=Nazik|last2=Drumsta|first2=Emily|title=Revolt Under The Sun: The Selected Poetry of Nazik Al-Mala'ika: A Bilingual Reader|date=29 October 2020|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgQHEAAAQBAJ|publisher=Saqi|publication-date=2020|isbn=978-0863563522}}

External links

{{in lang|ar}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110814141752/http://www.nazek.net/ official site]
[http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2CD6B305-D0A4-4A13-ADDF-AC5488268C99.htm flash for her at aljazeera]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070703210222/http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/980416/1998041604.html news at arabicnews]

Category:1923 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni

Category:Iraqi emigrants to Kuwait

Category:20th-century Iraqi poets

Category:Iraqi women writers

Category:Writers from Baghdad

Category:Iraqi Shia Muslims

Category:Academic staff of the University of Baghdad

Category:Academic staff of the University of Basrah

Category:Academic staff of Kuwait University

Category:Iraqi women poets