Rasha Omran ( ar, رشا عمران) is one of the most important Syrian poetesses, author of seven collections of poems and an anthology of Syrian poetry.

Biography

Born in

Tartus ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium& ...

, Syria, in 1964 into a family of artists, Rasha Omran is the daughter of Syrian poet Mohammad Omran a poet, activist, and journalist, and their home was a cultural gathering place for intellectuals and artists. As a child she read freely in her family library and she later attended

Damascus University The University of Damascus ( ar, جَامِعَةُ دِمَشْقَ, ''Jāmi‘atu Dimashq'') is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through ...

to study Arabic literature. She founded the Al-Sindiyan Festival of Litterature and Culture in her hometown in the late 1990s, which she directed for 16 years, and published her first poems after the death of her father. She has published seven collections of poetry and is the editor of an anthology of contemporary Syrian poets. Since the beginning of the

Syrian revolution The Syrian revolution, also known as the Syrian Revolution of Dignity, was the series of mass protests and uprisings– with subsequent violent reaction by the Syrian Arab Republic – lasting from March 2011 to June 2012, as part of the wider Ar ...

, she has publicly given her support for the uprising. “This is a dictatorial regime, ...How can I support a government that kills its citizens?” She has marched in protests, written about her dissent, and spoken out against Assad. Assad is "not a dictator, just a gangster boss." It was Rasha Omran who coined the phrase, "the international silence on Syria is deafening.". Threatened along with her family by the Syrian regime, she went into exile in Cairo in 2012. In September 2012, Rasha Omran and four other Syrian women launched a hunger strike outside the Arab League's headquarters in

Tahrir Square Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Ca ...

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 met ...

, Egypt, demanding that the Arab League provides more support for the revolutionaries, and pressure Assad to halt the human rights abuses in Syria. She has lived in Cairo since 2012 where she continues to write and publish her poetry, as well as three weekly articles for online Arab media where she comments on political and cultural news.

Bibliography

زوجة سرية للغياب (A secret wife of absence). Poems. Al Mutawassit, Milan 2020 التي سكنت البيت قبلي (She who dwelt in the house before me). Poems. Al Mutawassit, Milan 2016 بانوراما الموت والوحشة (Panorama of death and solitude). Poems. Dar Non 2014 معطف أحمر فارغ (A red and empty coat). Poems. Syrian Culture Ministry 2009 ظلك الممتد في أقصى حنيني (Your Shadow, Cast in my Utter Yearning). Poems. Al Tanweer 2003 كأن منفاي جسدي (As though my Exile my Body). Poems. Dar Arwad 1999 وجع له شكل الحياة (Pain in the Form of Life). Poems. Dar Arwad 1997 أنطولوجيا الشعر السوري (Anthologie de la poésie syrienne 1980-2008) الأمانة العامة لإحتفالية دمشق عاصمة الثقافة العربية, Damas 2008

Translations

English

''3 Poems from A Secret Wife of Absence'' translation Phoebe Carter ''Other Poems from A Secret Wife of Absence'' translation Phoebe Carter ''Defy the Silence'' translation Kim Echlin et Abdelrehim Youssef ''If I Were a Cat'' Rasha Omran’s Poetry in Three Languages ''When longing tormented me''When longing tormente
me
/ref> translation Camilo Gomez-Rivas

Biography

Bibliography

Translations

English

References

External links

Further reading