The Arabic Literature Club at AUK Hosts a Play on Al-Karnak Poet

The Arabic Literature Club at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) hosted an autobiographical play on the famous poet Ahmad Fathi, who authored the poem 'Al- Karnak'. The evening included a Monodrama play (the art of one actor) on the poet's life story, and a critical discussion on the theme of the play.

The play was performed by Abelaziz Al-Haddad, a Kuwaiti actor and director. The play revolved around the life story of the Karnak poet Ahmed Fathi, who was born in Egypt in 1913, and is the son of Sheikh Suleiman, one of many famous poets of Alexandria, and a political leader during the 1919 revolution. Fathi lived a life mixed with success and failure. After he gained fame in the Egyptian literary community, he travelled to Britain to work as an anchor. He married his colleague Josephine and they had a daughter together. When he decided to return to Egypt, his wife refused to go with him, so he returned to live alone. He began writing for his wife to come to Egypt and bring their daughter along, but she ignored his letters. After a long period of suffering and waiting, he finally received a letter from his wife to open it and discover that it is a court notification of divorce. Affected by the tragedy of the moment, he grabbed his pen and wrote his eternal poem 'The Story of Yesterday'.

Ahmed Fathi died in 1961 after being immortalized by two his two major works, 'Al-Karnak' which was sung by the Arab musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab; and 'The Story of Yesterday', which was sung by the renowned singer Umm Kulthum and composed by Riad Al-Sunbati.

The Arabic Literature Club at the American University in Kuwait, chaired by AUK student Mariam Fadel, is a student organization concerned with various aspects of Arabic language, culture ,poetry and literature. The main objective of the club is to promote the Arab identity and the Arabic language at AUK. Most of the activities of the club concentrate on the field of literature and poetry. The Arabic Literature Club aims to host more cultural events that will include Arabic music and seminars for Arabic language experts in the future. All events organized by the Arabic Literature Club are in collaboration with the Department of Arabic Language at AUK.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 8th April 2012

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2012