Dubai Emirati poet Ahmad Rashid Thani died yesterday after battling a chronic disease. He was 49 years old.
Thani was born in Khor Fakkan in 1963. He started to compose poetry in the late 1970s. He graduated from UAE University in 1985.
In 1981, Thani released his first collection of poetry in vernacular Arabic. He republished it in the 90s after adding new poems, including O! You Eat Dates… You Collect Gold.
Later, he released other collections, namely Drowning Verge, Morning Sits Next to Sea, Then Night Comes And Takes Me, Blood of the Candle, The Edge of the Rooms.
His poems were translated into French and German and were published in local and Arabic newspapers and magazines.
Thani participated in several poetry events and festivals in the UAE and Arab world.
He worked as a journalist and in many cultural organisations in the country. Thani was also a playwright and carried out research on local heritage and oral culture. He wrote several play scripts and was a critic as well.
He also wrote a collection of poetry, titled Sand Seat, which was published by Qalam, an initiative launched by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage to promote the works of Emirati poets.
Literary figure
Dr. Mohammad Abdullah Al Mutawa, Professor of Sociology at UAE University, said the country has lost a literary figure and creative poet who had a prominent presence in the cultural scene. "I know him personally since he was a student at the UAE University. He was very keen to know more as he used to ask a lot out of love for knowledge," Al Mutawa said.
Thani wrote many articles on national and Arab issues in local Emirati newspapers. Al Mutawa expressed his hope that his articles would be collected in a book in a show of respect of the role he played in the UAE's cultural arena.
