Mamdouh Adwan

{{Short description|Syrian writer and critic (1941–2004)}} {{Expand German|topic=bio|Mamdouh Adwan|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Mamdouh Adwan<br />{{lang|ar| ممدوح عدوان}} | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth-date|23 November 1941}} | birth_place = [[Qayrun]] near [[Masyaf]], [[Hama]], [[Syria]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2004|12|19|1941|11|23}} | death_place = [[Damascus]], [[Syria]] | occupation = Poet, writer and translator | nationality = [[Syrian]] | period = 1965–2004 | genre = }}

'''Mamdouh Adwan''' ({{langx|ar| ممدوح عدوان}}, 23 November 1941 – 19 December 2004)<ref name="SG1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.banipal.co.uk/contributors/98/mamdouh-adwan/|title = Banipal (UK) Magazine of Modern Arab Literature - Contributors - Mamdouh Adwan}}</ref> was a prolific [[Syrian]] writer, poet, playwright and critic. He published his first collection of poetry, ''al-Dhul al-Akhdhar'' [The Green Shadow] in 1967 and afterwards published 18 further collections.

He also published two novels, twenty-five plays, translated twenty-three books from English into [[Arabic]], including the ''[[Iliad]]'', the ''[[Odyssey]],'' a biography of [[George Orwell]], the ''Report to Greco'' by [[Nikos Kazantzakis]], and wrote a number of television series. He wrote regularly on Arab current affairs, and also taught at the [[Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts (Damascus)|Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts]] in Damascus.<ref name="SG2">{{cite web |url=http://video.aljazeera.com/channels/eng/videos/%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%AD-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86/3443935414001;jsessionid=F467AF405F64BF6658D2EB46684CFA33 |title=رحيل الأديب السوري ممدوح عدوان |work=Al Jazeera English}}</ref> Only few of his works have been published in English, notably in [[Banipal|Banipal magazine]].<ref name="SG1" />

==Biography== Mamdouh Adwan was born in the village of [[Qayrun]] near [[Masyaf]], [[Hama]] [[Hama Governorate|Governorate]], the first child of Sabri Adwan. After finishing his schooling in [[Masyaf]], he moved to [[Damascus]] to study English literature at [[Damascus University]]. He was married and had two sons. One of them, [[Ziad Adwan]], is a theatre director, actor and author.<ref>{{citation|author=Johanna Sellman |date=2023 |isbn=978-1-399-50014-2 |language=en |location=Edinburgh |pages=170–171 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |title=Arabic Literature in Europe. Defamiliarising Forced Migration. |url=https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/pub/media/ebooks/9781399500142.pdf}}</ref>

== Works in English translation ==

* ''The old man and the land.'' Damascus : al-Tawjih Press, 1971.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adwan |first=Mamduh |title=The old man and the land |date=1971 |publisher=al-Tawjih Press |location=Damascus |language=English |oclc=7369250}}</ref> * ''Selected poems''. (2008) translated by Sinan Antoon, [[Banipal]] 32

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* Darraj, Faisal (2004). Mamdouh Adwan and the freedom of the prolific creator. ''Banipal 21'', autumn/winter {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adwan, Mamdouh}} [[Category:1941 births]] [[Category:2004 deaths]] [[Category:Damascus University alumni]] [[Category:Syrian dramatists and playwrights]] [[Category:Syrian literary critics]] [[Category:20th-century Syrian poets]] [[Category:Syrian Alawites]] [[Category:20th-century Syrian translators]] [[Category:21st-century Syrian poets]]