Farouk Shousha, Egyptian poet, Died at 80

  Writer

Farouk Shousha was born on February 17, 1936, in Damietta and died on October 14, 2016.

He was an Egyptian poet.

Farouk Shousha hosted the popular television program Umsiya Thaqafiya (“Cultural Evening”) from 1977 through 2006.

Farouk attended kuttab.

Farouk Shousha credits the kuttab with providing him “a strong foundation of language”.

After a cholera epidemic led to his confinement at home, Shousha read poetry to pass the time.

Then, he began a programmatic reading of Arabic poetry at the local library, where he read everything from the pre-Islamic period through contemporary poets – Of the Damietta library, Shousha says, “It was there that my first poems were born.”

He attended Dar al-Ulum, where he became known as the Students’ Poet.

Following his graduation, he began working as a radio presenter.

Subsequencially, he rose to be Director of Egyptian Radio.

Then, later, Shousha entered the field of television. Throughout his media career, Shousha has been associated with cultural and literary programs.

During 2005, Shousha was named Secretary-General of the Arabic Language Academy, a body described by Al-Ahram Weekly as “the guardians of the language”.

During his role as Secretary-General, Shousha has been critical of what he considers to be a decline in the quality of Arabic in Egypt, a problem he attributes to radio and television announcers, poor teaching standards, and the lack of libraries in schools.

Farouk Shousha passed away at 80 years old.