Tuqan, Fadwa (1917–2003) By Al-Saleh, Asaad
This renowned Palestinian poet and activist was born to a rich and politically influential family in Nablus, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, where she attended primary school. After her family suspended her schooling at the age of 13, because of a jasmine flower given to her by an admiring boy, Tuqan resumed her education by taking private lessons at home. Interested in writing poetry, she was assisted by her brother Ibrahim Tuqan (1905–1941), who had already become a well-known nationalist poet even outside Palestine. Fadwa Tuqan’s first poetry was published under the pseudonym of Dananir, but after the death of her father and Ibrahim, along with the establishment of Israel in 1948, she began to use her real name, as in her first volume of poetry wahdi ma’a al-ayam (Alone with the Days) in 1955.