Muhammad Afifi Matar
Encyclopedia
Muhammad Afifi Matar was an Egyptian
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 poet. He was born in the village of Ramalat al-Anjab in the Menoufia region of the Nile Delta
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...

. He went to school in Menouf and afterwards moved to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 where he studied philosophy at Ain Shams University
Ain Shams University
Ain Shams University is an institute of higher education located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels.-History:...

.

During the reign of Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...

, Matar left Egypt for Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 and lived there for several years due to his difficulties with the military regime. During this period of self-imposed exile, he kept up his work as a poet and edited a literary journal called al-Aqlam. He was also a member of the Egyptian Baath Party
Baath Party
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was a political party mixing Arab nationalist and Arab socialist interests, opposed to Western imperialism, and calling for the renaissance or resurrection and unification of the Arab world into a single state. Ba'ath is also spelled Ba'th or Baath and means...

 and was one of six people arrested in April 1991 on accusations of involvement in an anti-government plot.

Matar is recognised as one of the more difficult of modern Arab poets. The scholar and translator Ferial Ghazoul has written: "Muhammad 'Afifi Matar [...] is known for the sophistication of his poetics, and the multiple allusions in his poetry. He is a poets' poet who has kept his trajectory apart from other literary schools and cliques. His voice is passionate and singular." The poet and translator Desmond O'Grady
Desmond O'Grady
Desmond M. O'Grady is an Australian journalist, author, and playwright who has resided and worked in Rome since 1962.- Early life:Desmond Michael O’Grady, was born in Melbourne Australia, the son of Edward O'Grady and Winifred O'Grady. He had an elder brother, Lance.In 1936 he attended...

 called him "one of the most difficult poets in contemporary Arabic."

Matar received numerous cultural prizes in the Middle East including the prestigious Al Owais Prize
Al Owais Prize
The Al Owais Prize is a bi-annual prize for artistic and cultural achievement in the Arab world. It is administered by the Sultan Bin Al Owais Cultural Foundation of the UAE. The award was established by the Emirati prince Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais...

. He published more than a dozen volumes of poetry during his lifetime. A book of his poems Quartet of Joy was translated by Ferial Ghazoul and John Verlenden
John Verlenden
John Verlenden is an American academic, writer and award-winning translator of Arabic literature. He obtained a BA in English literature from Rhodes College in 1986 followed by an MFA in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University in 1988...

 and won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award
Arkansas Arabic Translation Award
The Arkansas Arabic Translation Award is a prize given for a notable English translation of a book-length literary work originally written in the Arabic language. The award is administered by the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Arkansas...

. He also contributed the text to an art book called Twilight Visions in Egypt’s Nile Delta with photographs by Ann Parker.

Afifi Matar died in Cairo of liver complications.
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