IRAQ: Syriac poet Zuhair Bahnam Barada passes away

BAHGDAD— The Syriac author and poet Zuhair Bahnam Barada passed away this Tuesday, April 26, at a hospital in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The Syriac author leaves behind an impressive cultural and literary legacy.

Zuhair Barada was born in 1951 in the city of Baghdede (Qaraqosh) in the Syriac homeland of the Nineveh Plain. He held several official cultural positions and was a member of the Syriac Writers Union – in which administrative body he served several terms – the Union of Iraqi Writers, the General Union of Arab Writers, and he served as director of the Syriac Cultural Center.

During his career, he published many collections of poetry and worked for several newspapers, magazines, and local TV and radio stations. He was a regular participant in cultural and poetry festivals, at home and abroad in Beirut, Doha, and Amman. He regularly performed at poetry festivals, including the Syriac Rhetoric and Poetry Festival organized by the General Directorate of Syriac Study, where he recited poems from his oeuvre. 

He won the the Lebanese Naji Numan Literary Award, the Poetry Award of the Christian Thought Magazine, and the Shamsha Award in the poetry competition held by Syriac website ankawa.com.

The General Directorate of Syriac Study published a letter of condolence on the death of Barada, as did several cultural institutions, wishing patience and solace to the family of the deceased and to the cultural community of Iraq.

The General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts in the Kurdistan Region mourns the great Syriac poet, writer and writer (Zuhair Bahnam Barada), who fell asleep in the hope of resurrection in Baghdad this morning, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. pic.twitter.com/qaJwldCL9n

— mardutha.syriac (@mardutha) April 26, 2022