A Death in the Family
August 11th, 2008 by Mary Tuma
Readers of David Theis’ August 8 Observer feature, “A Poet Without Borders,” about acclaimed Houston poet Fady Joudah, may have noticed the connection between Joudah and internationally renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Joudah translated Darwish’s poem “The Butterfly Burden” from the original Arabic, garnering Joudah the Saif Ghobash-Banipal prize.
The 67-year-old Darwish died Saturday in Houston from complications due to heart surgery, The New York Times reports.
Darwish was known for his strong, and oftentimes political voice representing both the Palestinian cause and the human spirit. Growing up in a village near Haifa, Israel, Darwish and his family were forced into exile, but he eventually made his way back to Palestine in the mid-’90s, settling in Ramallah. He developed his taste for political activism early, and is credited as the writer of the Palestinian declaration of independent statehood in 1988.
The most-translated Arab poet, Darwish will be remembered as an influential shaper of Palestinian cultural and national identity.
He will be buried in Ramallah after a state funeral service in the West Bank on Tuesday.
—Reported by Mary Tuma
