Ahmed Fouad Shennib (Arabic: أحمد فؤاد شنيب) was a Libyan poet, politician and ambassador.

Ahmed Fouad Shennib
Education minister of Libya
In office
19 March 1963 – 22 January 1964
Preceded byAbul Qassim al-Allaghi
Succeeded byMohammed al-Mayyet
Personal details
Born1923
Hama, Syria
DiedJanuary 7, 2007(2007-01-07) (aged 83–84)
Benghazi, Libya
ChildrenHani Shennib

Born in Hama, Syria in 1923 of Libyan parents in exile. Shennib was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris and served as cultural attache to UNESCO until 1959.[1] He then served as cultural attache in Washington DC (1959–1963), then Paris, France in 1963. He then returned to Libya in 1963 to serve as Minister of Education and Culture until 1964.

Ahmed Fouad Shennib died in January 2007 of pancreatic cancer in Benghazi, Libya.

Literary Contributions

edit

Ahmed Fouad Shennib is most known for his collection of poems addressing the subject of Libyan nationalism and identity. His poetry stems primarily from the period following the proclamation of Libyan independence in 1951. During this period several poets emerged "who rejected the classical forms of Arabic versification and showed an interest in social problems, particularly the life of the common people".[2] The primary authors of this period were Ahmed Fuad Shennib, Ali Sidqi Abd al-Kadir and Ali al-Ruqii.[3] Common themes of prose during this period were the struggle for independence, social equality and condemned prejudice.[4]

The poems 'Libya',[5] 'After Dusk' and 'Al Ashiqah' regularly feature in the curricula of Arabic Literature covering North Africa.[6]

Notes

edit
  1. ^ 'Directeurs de Services Nationaux de relations Culturelles' Fevrier 1959, UNESCOunesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001274/127488FB.pdf
  2. ^ "Libya".
  3. ^ Krymskii, A. Istoriia novoi arabskoi literatury, XlX-nach XX, Moscow, 1971
  4. ^ Muhammad Sadiq Afifi “Poety i poeziia Livii” In Sovremennaia arabskaia literatura Moscow, Muhammad Sadiq Afifi 1960
  5. ^ 'Libya: Ahmed Fouad Shennib', Libyanet.com http://www.libyanet.com/shennib1.htm
  6. ^ 'Poems by Libyan poet Ahmed Fouad Shennib', Libyanet.com http://www.libyanet.com/afs00003.htm