Birth: NULL/NULL/1917 Death:NULL/NULL/2003
Born in Nablus on 1 March 1917; was not given the opportunity to pursue her education and focused instead on self-study with the assistance of her brother Ibrahim Tuqan; was motivated by the untimely death of Ibrahim and the prevailing social and political constraints to master in writing, first using traditional forms then more free verses; her poetry reflects different angles of Palestinian life, portraying personal sentiments – early collections include My Brother Ibrahim (1946) and Alone With The Days (1952) – and becoming more nationalistic after 1967; studied English Language and Literature at Oxford University, UK, from 1962-64, and traveled across Europe; was considered Palestine’s leading female poetess; received the International Poetry Award in Palermo, Italy, the Jerusalem Award for Culture and Arts awarded by the PLO (1990), the United Arab Emirates Award (1990), and the Honorary Palestine Prize for Poetry (1996); her works include the childhood memories Mountainous Journey, (1985), the poems Self-Portrait and Martyrs of the Intifada, as well as the poetry collections Give Us Love (Arabic, 1960), Before The Closed Door (Arabic, 1967), and Daily Nightmares (trans. to English, 1988); was the subject of a documentary film directed by novelist Liana Badr in 1999; died in Nablus on 12 Dec. 2003 after suffering a stroke.
