About
Fadwa Touqan was born in 1917 in Nablus, Palestine, into an influential family. Forced to leave school at 13, she was educated by her brother, the poet Ibrahim Touqan. She studied English literature at Oxford in the 1960s. Her first collection, My Brother Ibrahim (1946), is an elegy to her brother. Her poetry, initially personal and feminist, shifted after the 1967 Six-Day War to themes of national resistance, earning her the nickname 'Poetess of Palestine'. She received numerous awards, including the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais (1988-1989) and the Jerusalem Prize (1990). Her autobiography, A Mountainous Journey, was translated into English. She died in 2003 in Nablus.
* 1917-03-01 — † 2003-12-12
Major works
- My Brother Ibrahim (1946)poetry
- Alone With the Days (1952)poetry
- Before the Closed Door (1967)poetry
- The Night and the Horsemen (1969)poetry
- A Mountainous Journey (1990)autobiography
Key milestones
- 1967After the Six-Day War, her poetry turned to national resistance.
- 1988Received the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Award for Poetry.
- 1990Received the Jerusalem Award for Culture and Arts.
Themes
feminismnational resistancegriefidentityexile
Sources: alowais.com · palquest.org · sfonline.barnard.edu