Biographical notes on Nizar Qabbani

Nizar Toufic Qabbani was born in Damascus in 1923 and received his elementary and secondary education in the national Scientific College in Damascus between 1930 - 1941. He entered the Tajhize ( Preparatory) school in 1941 - and left with the baccaloriate degree in 1942. After three years of studies he graduated from the Syrian University of Damascus in 1945 as a bachelor of law.

Although Nizar Qabbani is mostly know as a poet, he had a long career in the Syrian diplomatic corps which he joined after university.

He started composing poetry in 1939 and published his first (Diwan) kalat Lia Al Samra in 1944. This collection was strongly opposed by the conservatives who considered it a deviation from the traditional school of Arabic poetry in form and content.

Leaving diplomacy in the spring 1966, he devoted himself to a vast production of poetry. His life was also marred by a number of personal tragedies among them the death of his son Toufic and the disappearance of his wife Balqis under building debris in Beirut.

His poetry has been translated into many languages and as popular song lyrics it also continues to enjoy a vast and varied audience.

Nizar Qabbani passed away in London on May 1, 1998.