Books and publications

Index / Activities / Books and publications / Homage to poet Nizar Qabbani 

Homage to poet Nizar Qabbani 

November 05, 20187:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62). 7:00 p.m. Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In Spanish and Arabic.

Casa Árabe has organized an evening to pay homage to the Syrian poet on the twentieth anniversary of his death.

Nizar Qabbani (Damascus, 1923-London, 1998) is one of the great Arab poets of our time, hugely popularly and internationally renowned. He expressed both private and collective feelings and ideas, with a longing to defend all forms of freedom, in terms of love, intellectual pursuits, and both social and political beliefs, and he called out for rebellion against tyranny.  Form 1952 to 1966, he held various diplomatic positions, representing his country, Syria. After leaving the diplomatic corps, he moved to Beirut and devoted himself fully to literature. In the mid-seventies, he went into exile, which finally took him to London, though he continued to travel and remained in contact with his audiences. His relationship with Spain began in 1952, a country which holds a unique place of its own in his work and his life story.  Here at Casa Árabe, we would like to pay tribute to him with this homage.  

Taking part in the event are Pedro Martínez Montávez, an Arabist and professor emeritus at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM); Maysoun Choucair, a Syrian writer and poet; Carmen Ruiz Bravo-Villasante, an Arabist and retired professor at the UAM, and Abdul Hadi Saadoun, a poet and Hispanist.

Musical accompaniment: Hames Bitar and Linda Alahmad.

Event information sheet
Homage to poet Nizar Qabbani