Abbas Mahmud Aqqad

Born June 28, 1889, in Aswan; died 1964. Arab Egyptian writer, journalist, and literary critic; member of the Academy of Arabic Language in Cairo and the Arab Academy of Sciences in Damascus.

With Abd al-Rahman Shukri and al-Mazini, Aqqad headed a literary school which was influenced by English romanticism. He was a contributor to Al-Dustur (Constitution) and other newspapers, taking part in the political struggle for Egypt’s independence. In 1930, Aqqad was sentenced to prison for his antigovernment articles. The first collection of his verses appeared in 1916. In 1927 he published a collection, Diwan al-Aqqad, which included the poetry of the previous four collections. He wrote works on Arab and world literature, including Remembering Goethe (1932), The Arabs’ Impact on European Civilization (1946), Ibn al-Rumi (1950), and Abu Nawas al-Hasam ibn-Hani (1950).