Badr Shaker Al-Sayyab in his last days

It may be a good literary coincidence, that the issuance of this book about Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab coincides, after the initiative launched by the Union of Arab Writers in Abu Dhabi to make 2014 the year of celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of this great poet. The high literary status that Al-Sayyab occupies, Arab and international, calls us to recall the pioneering role he played in developing the Arabic poetic movement, and opening wide horizons for modern Arabic poetry to occupy its distinguished place on the map of world poetry. How fortunate we are, as we recall these well-known literary facts in our ancient poetic and critical history, to give our poetry its due today, and to hand it over to those who understand its core and the truth of its craftsmanship, so that they may reveal its secrets and the sources of beauty and creativity within it. On this occasion, we must rediscover the sources of beauty and creativity in Al-Sayyab’s poetry, and invite critics who are solely dedicated to poetry, to re-study this pioneering poet, and to highlight his leading role in the movement of contemporary Arabic poetry.