Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
We stand before a strange case here, but it is a clear example, this poet who lacked nothing for fame, but she remained almost obscure. There is no picture of her, no prominent news, and there is no evidence of her death or that she is still alive. In fact, searching for her on social media networks is difficult to reach. You will find fragments of a repeated biography. She did not stand out like those who shared the factors of fame with her in Time and place.
Kulthum Orabi lived during the time of the Renaissance and its pioneers, and lived in Palestine , specifically in the Galilee (where Darwish, Al-Qasim and their companions were) until 1957. Then she came to Beirut, the capital of art, culture, literary ties, the media, and everything related to sound, light, creativity, and fame, and where literary and poetic conflicts and magazines took place. Arts, literature, poetry, dialogue and situations.
In both cases, she did not become as famous as she should have been, even though she excelled and published several poetry collections and worked in the media...but something did not make her stand out like her less talented colleagues.
Most likely, the reason is the relationships, the paralysis, the centers of light... and the presence in the midst of the cultural movement, which was embodied in Palestine by the group of five who appeared in Al-Ittihad newspaper and its literary supplements (or the six and perhaps the seven in other cultural theories). It was embodied in Beirut by the Unified Media, the Palestinian Writers and Journalists Union, and Lebanese literary magazines.
Who is Kulthum Orabi?
She is a revolutionary poet, born in 1936 in the village of Jisr al-Majma` in Palestine, to Algerian parents who moved to Palestine to escape the oppression of French colonialism and its terrorism in Algeria.
Kulthum studied primary school in the city of Haifa and moved with her family following the Nakba in 1948 to the village of Kafr Yasif, where she continued her secondary education in a number of Galilee schools, and obtained a BA in Arabic Literature from Al-Quds University (Committed Literature).
In 1957, she took refuge with her family in Beirut as a result of the Israeli occupation practices in Palestine. She and her family could not bear the pressure of Zionist racism, and in Beirut she got married and God blessed her with two sons.
She is a glorious Palestinian poet. She wrote vertical poetry, ta'feel poetry, and free poetry. Her talents were evident in the world of journalism, which qualified her to work for several years on Lebanese radio.
She was involved in the national concern, and her Palestinian poetry stemmed from her affiliation, and the writer Suhad Abdel Hadi took her in her book “A Guide to Palestinian Women Writers... Candles That Do Not Extinguish” as an example corresponding to the writer May Ziadeh, who was born in Palestine but was not emotionally connected to it, so did not mention her, and did not classify her among Palestinian women, while “on the other hand, we find the writer Kulthum Malek Orabi, who was born in Palestine to Algerian parents, and the family did not leave Palestine until after they were subjected to a lot of harassment from the Israeli authorities, which forced them to immigrate to Lebanon in 1957, and her writings included a lot of concerns.” "Palestinian." As evidence of this poet’s connection to and obsession with Palestine, some writers even called her “the poet of homelessness and alienation.”
The Algerian writer Muhammad al-Hadi al-Hassani called her “the one with two tragedies.” She is an Algerian poet, unknown to most Algerians. She was born to Algerian parents in Palestine. She lived in the memory of her family the tragedy of Algeria, and she lived its tragedy and catastrophe in Palestine.
In Beirut, Kulthum was active in newspapers and magazines, published her poems, and published her national and sentimental poetry collections in Lebanon. Her displacement and asylum were reflected in her poetry and literature. As she says, she lives the catastrophe to the best of her ability to live, but she refuses to despair, because despair leads to misfortune, and she lives with hope combined with work. The French enemy stayed in her first country, Algeria, for 132 years, and left it reprehensible and defeated, which is what She expressed it in a poem entitled: No Despair.
Her works:
1 - Displaced (Poetry), Beirut 1963.
2 - Bells of Silence (Poetry), Beirut 1965.
3 - Napalm Made Jerusalem’s Wheat Bitter (Poetry), Beirut 1968.
4 - The Quiet River of Silence Is Green (poetry), Beirut 1968.
5 - Peace be upon you (poetry), Beirut 1970.
6 - The Community (poetry play), Beirut, 1970.
7 - Light and Dust (poetry), Beirut 1977.
8 - Eyes (Poetry), Beirut, 1980.
9 - Water for the Thirst of the Sun (Poetry).
News about Kulthum Orabi
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
: From
To