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Iraqi Poetry, Between Tradition and Innovation
March 19, 20257:00 p.m.
CORDOBA
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In Spanish.
On Wednesday, March 19, Iraqi professor Waleed Saleh, winner of Casa Árabe’s “Friendship” Award for 2024, will be giving this conference as part of the event series “The Arabs and Their Poetry: A journey across the centuries.” Join us and learn about the different periods in literary poetic creation in the country of Gilgamesh
Iraq is a land of poets. So much so that the first poem in the world, The Epic of Gilgamesh (2300 BCE) came to light in that nation.
During his lecture, Prof. Saleh, from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, will be providing a review of Iraqi poetic creation from the early days of classical Arabic poetry in the Abbasid period (750-1258), through the decline during the Mongol period (thirteenth-fourteenth centuries) and Ottoman rule (as of the sixteenth century) and up to its renaissance from the nineteenth century onwards, when the foundations of modern Iraqi poetry were laid.
In the inter-war period, Iraqi poets sought to reform social and political life through poetry, and the themes they worked with focused on issues affecting individuals, their feelings and everyday life. In the mid-1940’s, Iraqi poetry was to undergo a revolution as a result of what is known as “free verse,” the use of which would continue under later generations, in a way parallel to classical Arabic poetry, which never disappeared. In addition to reviewing the most relevant authors from each period, special mention will be made of Mudaffar al-Nawwab (1934-2022), who wrote most of his work in the Iraqi dialect.
Introducing the event will be Javier Rosón, Casa Árabe’s Coordinator in Cordoba.
Waleed Saleh Alkhalifa
Born in the border city of Mandali, Iraq, he studied at the University of Baghdad’s School of Education in the Arabic Language and Literature section (1972). From 1973 to 1978, he was a teacher at several schools in Iraq. From 1978 to 1984, he lived in Morocco, where he taught at different centers, above all the University Teacher Training College in Errachidia. In 1984, he moved to Spain, where he has lived ever since. He earned his PhD in 1990 from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, in Arabic Philology, and in 1994 he graduated in Hispanic Studies, in the specialization of Spanish Literature, at the University of Valencia, as well as earning his PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
He has worked as a correspondent for Arab newspapers and as a literary advisor, as well as becoming a member of the editorial board of Algarabía, a journal which focuses on the teaching of the Arabic language published by the Centro de Profesores de Málaga. He was also the editorial secretary of the journal ISIMU on the Near East and Egypt in Antiquity, published by the the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid’s Advanced Center for Asyriology and Egyptology Studies.
Since 1992, he has been a Sworn Translator of Arabic appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has translated several Spanish-language works into Arabic, including several by Gabriel García Márquez. He has also translated several literary works from Arabic into Spanish. He works with various Spanish media as a political commentator.
During his lecture, Prof. Saleh, from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, will be providing a review of Iraqi poetic creation from the early days of classical Arabic poetry in the Abbasid period (750-1258), through the decline during the Mongol period (thirteenth-fourteenth centuries) and Ottoman rule (as of the sixteenth century) and up to its renaissance from the nineteenth century onwards, when the foundations of modern Iraqi poetry were laid.
In the inter-war period, Iraqi poets sought to reform social and political life through poetry, and the themes they worked with focused on issues affecting individuals, their feelings and everyday life. In the mid-1940’s, Iraqi poetry was to undergo a revolution as a result of what is known as “free verse,” the use of which would continue under later generations, in a way parallel to classical Arabic poetry, which never disappeared. In addition to reviewing the most relevant authors from each period, special mention will be made of Mudaffar al-Nawwab (1934-2022), who wrote most of his work in the Iraqi dialect.
Introducing the event will be Javier Rosón, Casa Árabe’s Coordinator in Cordoba.
Waleed Saleh Alkhalifa
Born in the border city of Mandali, Iraq, he studied at the University of Baghdad’s School of Education in the Arabic Language and Literature section (1972). From 1973 to 1978, he was a teacher at several schools in Iraq. From 1978 to 1984, he lived in Morocco, where he taught at different centers, above all the University Teacher Training College in Errachidia. In 1984, he moved to Spain, where he has lived ever since. He earned his PhD in 1990 from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, in Arabic Philology, and in 1994 he graduated in Hispanic Studies, in the specialization of Spanish Literature, at the University of Valencia, as well as earning his PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
He has worked as a correspondent for Arab newspapers and as a literary advisor, as well as becoming a member of the editorial board of Algarabía, a journal which focuses on the teaching of the Arabic language published by the Centro de Profesores de Málaga. He was also the editorial secretary of the journal ISIMU on the Near East and Egypt in Antiquity, published by the the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid’s Advanced Center for Asyriology and Egyptology Studies.
Since 1992, he has been a Sworn Translator of Arabic appointed by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has translated several Spanish-language works into Arabic, including several by Gabriel García Márquez. He has also translated several literary works from Arabic into Spanish. He works with various Spanish media as a political commentator.
