The Most Famous

WRITERS from Syria

This page contains a list of the greatest Syrian Writers. The pantheon dataset contains 7,302 Writers, 23 of which were born in Syria. This makes Syria the birth place of the 45th most number of Writers behind Azerbaijan, and Belarus.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Syrian Writers of all time. This list of famous Syrian Writers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Syrian Writers.

1. Al-Maʿarri (973 - 1057)

With an HPI of 67.91, Al-Maʿarri is the most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 49 different languages on wikipedia.

Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī (Arabic: أبو العلاء المعري), also known by his Latin name Abulola Moarrensis; December 973 – May 1057) was a philosopher, poet, and writer from Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria. Because of his controversially irreligious worldview, he is known as one of the "foremost atheists" of his time according to Nasser Rabbat. Born in the city of al-Ma'arra (present-day Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria) during the later Abbasid era, he became blind at a young age from smallpox but nonetheless studied in nearby Aleppo, then in Tripoli and Antioch. Producing popular poems in Baghdad, he refused to sell his texts. In 1010, he returned to Syria after his mother began declining in health, and continued writing which gained him local respect. Described as a "pessimistic freethinker", al-Ma'arri was a controversial rationalist of his time, rejecting superstition and dogmatism. His written works exhibit a fixation on the study of language and its historical development, known as philology. He was pessimistic about life, describing himself as "a double prisoner" of blindness and isolation. He attacked religious dogmas and practices, was equally critical and sarcastic about Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism, and became a deist. He advocated social justice and lived a secluded, ascetic lifestyle. He was a vegan, known in his time as a moral vegetarian, entreating: "Do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals / Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught for their young." Al-Ma'arri held an antinatalist outlook, in line with his general pessimism, suggesting that children should not be born to spare them of the pains and suffering of life. Saqt az-Zand, Luzūmiyyāt, and Risalat al-Ghufran are among his main works.

2. Adunis (b. 1930)

With an HPI of 63.10, Adunis is the 2nd most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 45 different languages.

Ali Ahmad Said Esber (Arabic: علي أحمد سعيد إسبر, North Levantine: Arabic pronunciation: [ˈʕali ˈʔaħmad saˈʕiːd ˈʔesbeɾ]; born 1 January 1930), also known by the pen name Adonis or Adunis (Arabic: أدونيس Arabic pronunciation: [ʔadoːˈniːs]), is a Syrian poet, essayist and translator. Maya Jaggi, writing for The Guardian stated "He led a modernist revolution in the second half of the 20th century, "exerting a seismic influence" on Arabic poetry comparable to T.S. Eliot's in the anglophone world." Adonis's publications include twenty volumes of poetry and thirteen of criticism. His dozen books of translation to Arabic include the poetry of Saint-John Perse and Yves Bonnefoy, and the first complete Arabic translation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (2002). His multi-volume anthology of Arabic poetry ("Dīwān ash-shi'r al-'arabī"), covering almost two millennia of verse, has been in print since its publication in 1964. A perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Adonis has been described as the greatest living poet of the Arab world.

3. Heliodorus of Emesa (250 - 400)

With an HPI of 63.04, Heliodorus of Emesa is the 3rd most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Heliodorus Emesenus or Heliodorus of Emesa (Ancient Greek: Ἡλιόδωρος ὁ Ἐμεσηνός) is the author of the ancient Greek novel called the Aethiopica (Αἰθιοπικά) or Theagenes and Chariclea (Θεαγένης καὶ Χαρίκλεια), which has been dated to the 220s or 370s AD.

4. Nizar Qabbani (1923 - 1998)

With an HPI of 62.89, Nizar Qabbani is the 4th most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani (Arabic: نزار توفيق قباني, ALA-LC: Nizār Tawfīq Qabbānī, French: Nizar Kabbani; 21 March 1923 – 30 April 1998) was a Syrian diplomat, poet, writer and publisher. He is considered to be Syria's National Poet. His poetic style combines simplicity and elegance in exploring themes of love, eroticism, religion, and Arab empowerment against foreign imperialism and local dictators. Qabbani is one of the most revered contemporary poets in the Arab world. His famous relatives include Abu Khalil Qabbani, Sabah Qabbani, Rana Kabbani, Yasmine Seale. Nizar Qabbani was born in the Syrian capital of Damascus to a middle class merchant family. Qabbani was raised in Mi'thnah Al-Shahm, one of the neighborhoods of Old Damascus and studied at the National Scientific College School in Damascus between 1930 and 1941. The school was owned and run by his father's friend, Ahmad Munif al-Aidi. He later studied law at Damascus University, which was called Syrian University until 1958. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in law in 1945. While a student in college he wrote his first collection of poems entitled The Brunette Told Me, which he published in 1942. It was a collection of romantic verses that made several startling references to a woman's body, sending shock waves throughout the conservative society in Damascus. To make it more acceptable, Qabbani showed it to Munir al-Ajlani, the minister of education who was also a friend of his father and a leading nationalist leader in Syria. Ajlani liked the poems and endorsed them by writing the preface for Nizar's first book. After graduating from law school, Qabbani worked for the Syrian Foreign Ministry, serving as Consul or cultural attaché in several capital cities, including Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, Madrid, and London. In 1959, when the United Arab Republic was formed, Qabbani was appointed Vice-Secretary of the UAR for its embassies in China. He wrote extensively during these years and his poems from China were some of his finest. He continued to work in diplomacy until he tendered his resignation in 1966. At the age of fifteen, Nizar Qabbani’s sister died due to contested reasons. When asked whether he was a revolutionary, the poet answered: “Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set (it) free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense, and body with my poetry. The relationships between men and women in our society are not healthy.” In 1981, Nizar Qabbani’s wife, Balqees, died in a bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese civil war. The death of Balqees profoundly affected Qabbani’s psychology and poetry. He expressed his grief in an exceptionally moving poem titled Balqees. Qabbani blamed all Arab regimes for her death. Additionally, Qabbani used the death of his beloved Balqees to symbolize the death of Arab people in the Levant by their governments. "Balqees: I ask forgiveness. Maybe your life was for mine, a sacrifice. I know well that your killers’ aims were to kill my words. My beautiful, rest in peace. After you, poetry will cease and womanhood is out of place. Generations of children flocks Will keep asking about your long hair locks. Generations of lovers will read about you, the true instructor. One day the Arabs will get it that they killed the prophetess and the prophets." The city of Damascus remained the most powerful muse in his poetry, most notably in the Jasmine Scent of Damascus. However, Qabbani expressed his love for all Arab citizens and cities from Mauritania extending to Iraq as one people connected by the same struggle and a rich past. In the second stanza of Umm al-Mu'tazz he said: "Every Arab city is my mother, Damascus, Beirut, Cairo, Baghdad, Khartoum, Casablanca, Benghazi, Tunis, Amman, Riyadh, Kuwait, Algiers, Abu Dhabi, and their sisters: These are my family tree. All of these cities brought me forth from their wombs, cave me to suck from their breasts. And filled my pockets with grapes, figs and plums. All of them shook their date palms for me so that I could eat. Opened their skies for me like a blue notebook so that I could write. For this reason, I do not enter an Arab city without it calling me, "My son." I do not knock on the gate of an Arab city without finding my childhood bed waiting for me. No Arab city bleeds without my bleeding with it." Qabbani was a vocal opponent of colonial and imperial western projects in the Middle East. Additionally, Qabbani frequently criticized Arab leaders for their corruption, oppression, and hypocrisy most notably in his poem Sultan: "O Sultan, my master, if my clothes are ripped and torn It is because your dogs with claws are allowed to tear me O Sultan! Because I dare to approach your deaf walls, because I tried to reveal my sadness and tribulation, I was beaten." Qabbani had two sisters, Wisal and Haifa, and three brothers, Mu'taz, Rashid, and Sabah. The latter, Sabah Qabbani, became the director of Syrian radio and TV in 1960 and served as Syria's ambassador to the United States in the 1980s. Nizar Qabbani's father, Tawfiq Qabbani, was Syrian, while his mother was of Turkish descent. His father had a chocolate factory; he also helped support fighters resisting the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and was imprisoned many times for his views, greatly affecting the upbringing of Nizar into a revolutionary in his own right. Qabbani's grandfather, Abu Khalil Qabbani, was one of the leading innovators in Arab dramatic literature. The Qabbanis were of Turkish origin and came from Konya. The family name, Qabbani, is derived from Qabban (Arabic: قبان) which means Steelyard balance. Nizar Qabbani married twice in his life. His first wife was his cousin Zahra Aqbiq; together they had a daughter, Hadba, and a son, Tawfiq. Tawfiq died due to a heart attack when he was 22 years old when he was in London. Qabbani eulogized his son in the famous poem "To the Legendary Damascene, Prince Tawfiq Qabbani". Zahra Aqbiq died in 2007. His daughter Hadba, born in 1947, was married twice, and lived in London until her death in April 2009. His second marriage was to an Iraqi woman named Balqis al-Rawi, a schoolteacher he met at a poetry recital in Baghdad; she was killed in the 1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War on 15 December 1981. Together they had a son, Omar, and a daughter, Zainab. After the death of Balqis, Qabbani did not marry again. After the death of Balqis, Qabbani left Beirut. He was moving between Geneva and Paris, eventually settling in London, where he spent the last 15 years of his life. In exile, Qabbani continued to write poems and raise controversies and arguments. Notable and controversial poems from this period in his life include When Will They Announce the Death of Arabs? and Runners. At the age of 75, Nizar Qabbani died in London on 30 April 1998 of a heart attack. In his will, which he wrote in his hospital bed in London, Nizar Qabbani wrote that he wished to be buried in Damascus, which he described in his will as "the womb that taught me poetry, taught me creativity and granted me the alphabet of Jasmine." The great Arab poet was mourned by Arabs all over the world, with international news broadcasts highlighting his illustrious literary career. 1992–1993 Al Owais Award for Cultural & Scientific Achievements. On 21 March 2016, Google celebrated his 93rd birthday with a Google Doodle. Qabbani began writing poetry when he was 16 years old; at his own expense, Qabbani published his first book of poems, entitled The Brunette Told Me (قالت لي السمراء), while he was a law student at the University of Damascus in 1944. Over the course of a half-century, Qabbani wrote 34 other books of poetry, including: Childhood of a Breast (1948) طفولة نهد Samba (1949) سامبا You Are Mine (1950) أنت لي Poems (1956) قصائد My Beloved (1961) حبيبتي Drawing with Words (1966) الرسم بالكلمات Diary of an Indifferent Woman (1968) يوميات امرأة لا مبالية Savage Poems (1970) قصائد متوحشة Book of Love (1970) كتاب الحب 100 Love Letters (1970) مئة رسالة حب Poems Against The Law (1972) أشعار خارجة على القانون I Love You, and the Rest is to Come (1978) أحبك أحبك و البقية تأتي To Beirut the Feminine, With My Love (1978) إلى بيروت الأنثى مع حبي May You Be My Love For Another Year (1978) كل عام وأنت حبيبتي I Testify That There Is No Woman But you (1979) أشهد أن لا امرأة إلا أنت Secret Diaries of Baheyya the Egyptian (1979) اليوميات السرية لبهية المصرية I Write the History of Woman Like So (1981) هكذا أكتب تاريخ النساء The Lover's Dictionary (1981) قاموس العاشقين A Poem For Balqis (1982) قصيدة بلقيس Love Does Not Stop at Red Lights (1985) الحب لا يقف على الضوء الأحمر Insane Poems (1985)أشعار مجنونة Poems Inciting Anger (1986) قصائد مغضوب عليها Love Shall Remain My Lord (1987) سيبقى الحب سيدي The Trilogy of the Children of the Stones (1988) ثلاثية أطفال الحجارة Secret Papers of a Karmathian Lover (1988) الأوراق السرية لعاشق قرمطي Biography of an Arab Executioner (1988) السيرة الذاتية لسياف عربي I Married You, Liberty! (1988) تزوجتك أيتها الحرية A Match in My Hand , And Your Petty Paper Nations (1989) الكبريت في يدي ودويلاتكم من ورق No Victor Other Than Love (1989) لا غالب إلا الحب Do You Hear the Cry of My Sadness? (1991) هل تسمعين صهيل أحزاني ؟ Marginal Notes on the Book of Defeat (1991) هوامش على دفتر النكسة I'm One Man and You are a Tribe of Women (1992) أنا رجل واحد وأنت قبيلة من النساء Fifty Years of Praising Women (1994) خمسون عاما في مديح النساء Nizarian Variations of Arabic Maqam of Love (1995) تنويعات نزارية على مقام العشق Alphabet of Jasmine (1998) أبجدية الياسمين He also composed many works of prose, such as My Story with Poetry قصتي مع الشعر, What Poetry Is ما هو الشعر, and Words Know Anger الكلمات تعرف الغضب, On Poetry, Sex, and Revolution عن الشعر والجنس والثورة, Poetry is a Green Lantern الشعر قنديل أخضر, Birds Don't Require a Visa العصافير لا تطلب تأشيرة دخول, I Played Perfectly and Here are my Keys لعبت بإتقان وها هي مفاتيحي and The Woman in My Poetry and My Life المرأة في شعري وفي حياتي, as well as one play named Republic of Madness Previously Lebanon جمهورية جنونستان لبنان سابقا and lyrics of many famous songs of celebrated Arab singers, including: Mohammed Abdel Wahab (Ayazon: does he think?) Abdel Halim Hafez (Qareat Alfinjan: The cup reader) Fairuz (La Tasaalouny: Don't Ask Me) Kadhim Al-Sahir (Madrasat Alhob: School of Love) Umm Kulthum (Alan Endi Bondoqyah: Now I Have Rifle) Latifa (Talomony Aldunia: The universe blames me) Majida El Roumi (Beirut Sit Aldunia: Lady of universe Beirut) Asalah (Egdhab kama Tashaa: Get angry as you may) Najat Al Saghira (Matha Aqool Laho?: What shall I say to him?) Nancy Ajram (Ila Beirut aluntha: To the feminine Beirut ) And his verses would remain popular after his death, and put to song by Arab pop-music stars such as Kazem al-Saher and Latifa. However, such songs were introduced after filtering the original poems. Many of Qabbani's poems have also been translated into English and other foreign languages, both individually and as collections of selected works. Some of these collections include: English "On Entering the Sea" (1998) "Arabian Love Poems" (1998), translated by Bassam Frangieh and Clementina R. Brown "Republic of Love" (2002), translated by Nayef al-Kalali "Journal of An Indifferent Woman" (2015), translated by George Nicolas El-Hage, PhD Italian "Poesie", a cura di G. Canova, M.A. De Luca, P. Minganti, A. Pellitteri, Istituto per l’Oriente, Roma 1976. "Il fiammifero è in mano mia e le vostre piccole nazioni sono di carta e altri versi", a cura di V. Colombo, San Marco dei Giustiniani, Genova 2001. "Il libro dell’amore", traduzione di M. Avino, in Antologia della letteratura araba contemporanea. Dalla nahda a oggi, a cura di M. Avino, I. Camera d’Afflitto, Alma Salem, Carocci, Roma 2015, pp. 116–117. "Le mie poesie più belle", traduzione dall’arabo a cura di N. Salameh e S. Moresi, postfazione di P. Caridi, Jouvence, Milano 2016. Nepali Many of Qabbani's poems have been translated into Nepali by Suman Pokhrel, and are collected in an anthology tilled Manpareka Kehi Kavita. Hindi Many of Qabbani's poems are translated into Hindi by Siddheshwar Singh, Arpana Manoj, Manoj Patel, Rinu Talwar and other translators. Russian Evgeniy Dyakonov wrote his PhD thesis on the translation of Nizar Qabbani's poetry into Russian; Dyakonov's translations were published by Biblos Consulting, Moscow, in 2007. List of Arabic-language poets Official website Nizar Qabbani's books (in Arabic) English Translation for some poems of Nizar Qabbani Nizar Qabbani poems in Arabic English translations of Nizar Qabbani poems Qabbani in English at Poems Found in Translation English translations of selected Qabbani works Thoughts Inspired by PBS’s Two-Sentence Report on The Death of Syrian Poet Nizar Qabbani By Salman M. Hilmy, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 1998, pages 74–76 Nizar Qabbani Poems on ArabAdab.net Nizar Qabbani Poems in The Other Voices International Project English translations of Qabbani's poems I Decided, At Zero and I wrote on the wind. English translation of Marginal Notes on the Book of Defeat NYT article about Dec 1981 bomb attack on Iraqi Embassy in Beirut: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/16/world/bomb-wrecks-iraqi-embassy-in-beirut.html

5. Andrew of Crete (660 - 740)

With an HPI of 62.15, Andrew of Crete is the 5th most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Andrew of Crete (Greek: Ἀνδρέας Κρήτης, c. 650 – July 4, 712 or 726 or 740), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was an 8th-century bishop, theologian, homilist, and hymnographer. He is venerated as a saint in both the Eastern Orthodoxy and the Catholic Church.

6. Herodian (170 - 250)

With an HPI of 61.63, Herodian is the 6th most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Herodian or Herodianus (Greek: Ἡρωδιανός) of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus (τῆς μετὰ Μάρκον βασιλείας ἱστορία) in eight books covering the years 180 to 238. His work is not considered entirely reliable, although his less biased account of Elagabalus may be more useful than that of Cassius Dio. Herodian himself may have been a Syrian (perhaps from Antioch), though he appears to have lived for a considerable period of time in Rome, possibly without holding any public office. From his extant work, it seems that he was still living at an advanced age during the reign of Gordianus III, who ascended the throne in 238. Beyond this, nothing is known of his life. Herodian writes (1.1.3; 2.15.7) that the events described in his history occurred during his lifetime. Photius (Codex 99) gives an outline of the contents of this work and passes a flattering encomium on the style of Herodian, which he describes as clear, vigorous, agreeable, and preserving a happy medium between an utter disregard of art and elegance and a profuse employment of the artifices and prettinesses which were known under the name of Atticism, as well as between boldness and bombast. He appears to have used Thucydides as a model to some extent, both for style and for the general composition of his work, often introducing speeches wholly or in part imaginary.

7. Khaled al-Asaad (1932 - 2015)

With an HPI of 59.68, Khaled al-Asaad is the 7th most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Khaled Mohamad al-Asaad (Arabic: خالد الأسعد, Arabic pronunciation: [ɐlʔæsʕæd], January 1932 – 18 August 2015) was a Syrian archaeologist and the head of antiquities at the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He held this position for over forty years. Al-Asaad was publicly beheaded by the Islamic State on 18 August 2015, at the age of 83.

8. Abu Tammam (788 - 846)

With an HPI of 59.39, Abu Tammam is the 8th most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Ḥabīb ibn Aws al-Ṭā’ī (حبيب بن أوس الطائي; ca. 796/807 - 845), better known by his sobriquet Abū Tammām (أبو تمام), was an Arab poet and Muslim convert born to Christian parents. He is best known in literature by his 9th-century compilation of early poems known as the Hamasah, considered one of the greatest anthologies of Arabic literature ever assembled. Hamasah contained 10 books of poems, with 884 poems in total.

9. Usama ibn Munqidh (1095 - 1188)

With an HPI of 58.23, Usama ibn Munqidh is the 9th most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Majd ad-Dīn Usāma ibn Murshid ibn ʿAlī ibn Munqidh al-Kināni al-Kalbī (also Usamah, Ousama, etc.; Arabic: مجد الدّين اُسامة ابن مُرشد ابن على ابن مُنقذ الكنانى الكلبى) (4 July 1095 – 17 November 1188) or Ibn Munqidh was a medieval Arab Muslim poet, author, faris (knight), and diplomat from the Banu Munqidh dynasty of Shaizar in northern Syria. His life coincided with the rise of several medieval Muslim dynasties, the arrival of the First Crusade, and the establishment of the crusader states. He was the nephew and potential successor of the emir of Shaizar, but was exiled in 1131 and spent the rest of his life serving other leaders. He was a courtier to the Burids, Zengids, and later Ayyubids in Damascus, serving Zengi, Nur ad-Din, and Saladin over a period of almost fifty years. He also served the Fatimid court in Cairo, as well as the Artuqids in Hisn Kayfa. He travelled extensively in Arab lands, visiting Egypt, Syria, Palestine and along the Tigris River, and went on pilgrimage to Mecca. He often meddled in the politics of the courts in which he served, and he was exiled from both Damascus and Cairo. During and immediately after his life, he was most famous as a poet and adib (a "man of letters"). He wrote many poetry anthologies, such as the Kitab al-'Asa ("Book of the Staff"), Lubab al-Adab ("Kernels of Refinement"), and al-Manazil wa'l-Diyar ("Dwellings and Abodes"), and collections of his own original poetry. In modern times, he is remembered more for his Kitab al-I'tibar ("Book of Learning by Example" or "Book of Contemplation"), which contains lengthy descriptions of the crusaders, whom he interacted with on many occasions, and some of whom he considered friends. Most of his family was killed in an earthquake at Shaizar in 1157. He died in Damascus in 1188, at the age of 93.

10. Jurji Zaydan (1861 - 1914)

With an HPI of 57.79, Jurji Zaydan is the 10th most famous Syrian Writer. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Jurji Zaydan (Arabic: جرجي زيدان, ALA-LC: Jurjī Zaydān; December 14, 1861 – July 21, 1914) was a prolific Lebanese novelist, journalist, editor and teacher, most noted for his creation of the magazine Al-Hilal, which he used to serialize his twenty three historical novels. His primary goal, as a writer and intellectual during the Nahda, was to make the common Arabic population know their own history through the entertaining medium of the novel. He has enjoyed a widespread popularity. He is also considered to have been one of the first thinkers to help formulate the theory of Arab nationalism.

People

Pantheon has 27 people classified as Syrian writers born between 170 and 1971. Of these 27, 7 (25.93%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Syrian writers include Adunis, Ghada al-Samman, and Wafa Sultan. The most famous deceased Syrian writers include Al-Maʿarri, Heliodorus of Emesa, and Nizar Qabbani. As of April 2024, 4 new Syrian writers have been added to Pantheon including Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, Ameen Rihani, and Samar Yazbek.