In the fifties and sixties, he sold souvenirs during the day and studied poetry (everything from classical Arabic to contemporary American free-verse) at night. Still owner of a small souvenir/antiques shop he operates with his sons, he writes vividly of his childhood in Saffuriya and of the political upheavals he has survived. The Saffuriya of his youth has served as the nexus of his poetry and fiction, which are grounded in everyday experience and driven by a storyteller’s vivid imagination. He is self-taught and began his poetry career late. Taha Muhammad Ali writes in a forceful and direct style, with disarming humor and an unflinching, at times painfully honest approach; his poetry’s apparent simplicity and homespun truths conceal the subtle grafting of classical Arabic onto colloquial forms of expression. In Israel, in the West Bank and Gaza, and in Europe and in America, audiences have been powerfully moved by Taha Muhammad Ali’s poems of political complexity and humanity. He has published several collections of poetry and is also a short story writer. His books of poetry in Arabic include Fourth Qasida, Fooling the Killers, and Fire in the Convent Garden. Never Mind, his first collection in English, was published in 2000 by Ibis Editions, Jerusalem.

Poems
'POST-OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS FOLLOWING THE EXTRACTION OF MEMORY'
'FOOLING THE KILLERS'
'MEETING AT AN AIRPORT'


Interesting Articles
Is it possible to fool death?
Reflections on Taha Muhammad Ali


Links
On Taha Muhammad Ali and some of his poems in translation
Language: Enlish
Article on Taha Muhammad Ali by Hakam Abdel-Hadi
Language: German
One of Taha Muhammad Ali’s poems in translation
Language: Norwegian