Naim Araidi, born on April 2, 1950 and died October 2, 2015.

Naim was an Israeli Druze academic and writer known for his poems in both Hebrew and Arabic.

Naim was born in Maghar, Israel and completed his elementary school in his village, then moved to Haifa to complete his secondary education.

He went on to gain B.A in Hebrew language and Political Science and another B.A in Hebrew Literature and Comparative Literature.

Then he gained an M.A in Hebrew Literature and Comparative Literature at the University of Haifa.

This was followed with a Ph.D in Hebrew Literature from Bar-Ilan University.

He served as an instructor and a lecturer in both the University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University.

Then he moved to Gordon College and the Arab College for Education in Israel.

Naim then served as the Director of the Children’s Literature center at the Arab College as well as the coordinator of Studies for the Non-Jewish students at Gordon College. Dr. Naim presented two weekly programmes on Channel 2, a children’s programme and a news programme.

He also established “Al-Sewar” magazine. He held many public positions and participated in a large number of international festivals for writing and poetry.

Many of Naim’s published works appear in translation. For the first time in Italy in 2014 an anthology of his poems was published by Seam Edizioni.

The first edition was presented during the roman poetical twinning with Ottobre in Poesia in 2013.

The second edition occasioned a tour organized by the same publisher and poets Igor Costanzo, Beppe Costa, Stefania Battistella who translated the work.

Naim Araidi died at age 65 on October 2, 2015.