author - oman observer

The following are translations of poems from Zahir al Ghafri’s collection: Whenever an Angel Appeared in the Fort (Beirut: 2008)A Dark AlleyNo one in the dark alley but youThe mouth’s flower in...

The following are translations of poems from Sama Essa’s elegiac collection: A Love Song for Laila Fakhru (Beirut 2012):(16)The twittering sparrowsAre but a mystical departureThe tree discards its...

The following are translations of poems by the Omani poet Abdullah al Balushi (1967) from his collection titled: “Crossing Solitude’s Bar” (Muscat 1994).ElegiesTo Al Hallaj (1) In the grandeur...

The following are translations of poems by the Omani poet Hilal al Hajri (1958) from his collection titled: “Like a Mountain Bird Watching the Collapse of the World”, (Beirut 2013).A WishIf only...

I’ve already introduced the pioneering contemporary Omani poet Saif al Rahbi in an article published on Tuesday (July 13), in these columns. I stressed the idea that Al Rahbi elevates the common and...

Zahir al Ghafri’s cosmopolitanism is such that one can hardly find any treatment of local themes in his entire oeuvreDr Khalid Mohammed al Balushi Born in 1956, Zahir al Ghafri is among the first...

Sama Essa has been particularly influential in both introducing and solidifying verse-free prose poetry in OmanEssa al Tai, famously known for his pen name Sama Essa, is a pioneering contemporary...

Born in 1967, Abdullah al Balushi is among Oman’s most prolific contemporary poets. He’s published more than 10 collections. These include Crossing the Bar (1994), Immorality’s Seasons (1996),...

Hilal al Hajri is a contemporary Omani researcher, translator as well as a poet. He served as a professor of Arabic literature and travel writing at the College of Arts and Social Sciences at Sultan...

Saif al Rahbi is amongst Oman’s most well-known and prominent contemporary poets. Born in 1956, he lived abroad during his youth for over two decades.Seeking knowledge and occasionally practicing...

The dominant cultural discourse in Oman has always been, by and large, male dominated and collectivist. However, modernisation in the 1970s began to challenge that discourse. Poetry began to break...