This is an edited version of the post that originall appeared at Tasnim’s blog.
Google’s doodle today celebrates Nazik al-Malaika, on the occasion of the 88th anniversary of her birthday. The famous Iraqi poet is known as one of the first Arabic poets to use free verse. As Salih J. Altoma puts it:
Nazik al-Mala’ika occupies a prominent position in modern Arabic literature not only because of her innovative, experimental poetry, but also because of her well-known systematic critical efforts and her views toward important artistic, linguistic, and intellectual issues in modern Arabic literature. Since the publication of her first collection, The Lover of Night (Ashiqat al-Layl, 1947), al-Mala’ika has contributed toward transforming Arabic poetry in terms of its orientation and structure. This is reflected equally in her own poetry and in her critical theorization of the new poetic form known as free verse.
Adab has a collection of some of her poems in Arabic. Her poems in English can be found in anthologies including The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Nathalie Handal and Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology edited by Salma Khadra Jayyusi, as well as Iraqi Poetry Today edited by Weissbort, Daniel and Saadi Simawe, where she is represented here by five poems.
You can read more about Nazik al-Malaika here.