Mamdouh Adwan
Syrian writer and critic (1941-2004)
Mamdouh Adwan (Arabic: ممدوح عدوان, 23 November 1941 – 19 December 2004) was a prolific Syrian writer, poet, playwright and critic. He published his first collection of poetry, al-Dhul al-Akhdhar [The Green Shadow] in 1967 and afterwards published 18 further collections.
He also published two novels, twenty-five plays, translated twenty-three books from English into Arabic, including the Iliad, the Odyssey, a biography of George Orwell, the Report to Greco by Nikos Kazantzakis, and wrote a number of television series. He wrote regularly on Arab current affairs, and also taught at the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts in Damascus. Only few of his works have been published in English, notably in Banipal magazine.
Biography
Mamdouh Adwan was born in the village of Qayrun near Masyaf, Hama Governorate, the first child of Sabri Adwan. After finishing his schooling in Masyaf, he moved to Damascus to study English literature at Damascus University. He was married and had two sons. One of them, Ziad Adwan, is a theatre director, actor and author.
Works in English translation
The old man and the land.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12245061. VIAF identifies the subject as 74007490. The Library of Congress control number is n86855648. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941, 2004 and 1967.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mamdouh Adwan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.