Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi


Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi was a popular Egyptian poet, and later a children's books writer. He was one of a generation of poets who favored to write their work in the Egyptian dialect rather than Standard Arabic, the formal language of the state. This literary stance was associated with a militant political engagement: Abnudi and other Egyptian writers of this school sought to make their literary production part of the process of political development and movement towards popular democracy in Egypt.

Life

He was born in the village of Abnud in Upper Egypt. He wrote his first poetry when he was a high school student. In 1958, he traveled to Cairo. First of his works were published in the weekly magazine. In 1961, he moved to Cairo where he worked as a songwriter.
He married the former President of the Egyptian Television Network and television presenter and interviewer Nehal Kamal, and they had two children: Aya and Nour.

Works

Many of his works have been set to music by composers including Ezz Eddin Hosni and performed by popular singers such as Abd El Halim, Nagat el Saghera, Shadia, Sabah, Majida El Roumi, Mohamed Mounir and others.
  • El-Mot ala el-Asfalt – named in the top 100 African books of the 20th century at the 2001 Zimbabwe International Book Fair.
  • Jawabat Haraji il-Gutt – is an Arabic Saidi epic poem about Banu Hilal and their journey across Arabia and north Africa recollected in 5 volumes and edited by him from different poets of Upper Egypt. For this work he was claimed as "Homer of Arabs" by some of his biographers.

Most famous poetry

  • The allowed and prohibited
  • Death on the asphalt
  • Charged with forest cat
  • Earth and the children
  • The silence of the bell

Songs for many singers