Muhammad Afifi Matar ( ar, محمد عفيفي مطر; 1935 – 28 June 2010), was an Egyptian poet. He was born in the village of Ramalat al-Anjab in the

Menoufia Monufia Governorate ( ar, محافظة المنوفية ' ) is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the northern part of the country in the Nile Delta, to the south of Gharbia Governorate and to the north of Cairo. The governora ...

region of the

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...

. He went to school in

Menouf Menouf ( ar, منوف, from ) is a city in Egypt located in the Nile Delta. It has an area of 18.76 square kilometers. The city gave name to the Monufia Governorate that it is located in and it was the capital of the governorate until 1826. Menouf ...

and afterwards moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

where he studied philosophy at

Ain Shams University Ain Shams University ( ar, جامعة عين شمس) is a public university located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. History Ain Shams University was fou ...

Early life

During the reign of

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

, Matar left Egypt for

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and lived there for several years due to his difficulties with the military regime. During this period of self-imposed exile, he kept up his work as a poet and edited a literary journal called ''al-Aqlam''. He was also a member of the Egyptian

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...

and was one of six people arrested in April 1991 on accusations of involvement in an anti-government plot.

Career

Matar is recognised as one of the more difficult of modern Arab poets. The scholar and translator Ferial Ghazoul has written: "Muhammad 'Afifi Matar ..is known for the sophistication of his poetics, and the multiple allusions in his poetry. He is a poets' poet who has kept his trajectory apart from other literary schools and cliques. His voice is passionate and singular." The poet and translator

Desmond O'Grady Desmond M. O'Grady (11 December 1929 – 26 November 2021) was an Australian journalist, author, and playwright who resided and worked in Rome from 1962. Early life Desmond Michael O’Grady, (b. 11 December 1929) was born in Melbourne, Aus ...

called him "one of the most difficult poets in contemporary Arabic."

Awards and honours

Matar received numerous cultural prizes in the Middle East including the prestigious Al Owais Prize. He published more than a dozen volumes of poetry during his lifetime. A book of his poems ''Quartet of Joy'' was translated by Ferial Ghazoul and John Verlenden and won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award. He also contributed the text to an art book called, ''Twilight Visions in Egypt’s Nile Delta'' with photographs by Ann Parker. He was honored also in Kfrazayat city with the poet Abdelghani Mustafa Abdelghani in 1986.

Death

Afifi Matar died in Cairo of liver complications.

References

1935 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Egyptian poets 20th-century male writers Ain Shams University alumni Ba'ath Party politicians Egyptian male poets People from Monufia Governorate {{Egypt-writer-stub