Symposium on the career of the late writer Sayah al-Jhayyem

Sweida (ST): The late writer Sayah al- Jhayyem’s rich career as a translator, critic, and educator,  was the focus of a symposium organized by the Translation Association of the Arab Writers Union in cooperation with the Syrian General Book Authority in Sweida.

The symposium, which was held at the Writers’ Union headquarters in Sweida, comes according to the head of the Union branch, writer Wijdan Abu Mahmoud, in remembrance of writer Al- Jhayyem and in honor of his contributions as a contemporary literary figure who left his imprints enlightening literary, educational and cultural fields.

The speech of the Director of the General Book Authority, Dr. Tha’er Zain Al-Din, delivered on his behalf by the Director of the Media Office in the Authority, Salam Fadel, highlighted the personal meetings with the writer Jhayyem who benefited from them in his cultural work and writings and how his name was launched on the stage of the Arab Cultural Center in Sweida in 2006, pointing out that Jhayyem presented more than forty books that enriched an important aspect of our culture, and he was a scholar of storytelling techniques, equipped with a vast repertoire of knowledge and a wide culture of modernity, and was skilled in translating poetry and criticism.

Member of the Executive Office of the Writers Union, Riyad Tabra, recalled as one of his students, the social, political and cultural conditions that surrounded Jhayyem, his gifts as an educator, his activity and his style, which made him a milestone in teaching the Arabic language, his students’ love for him, his good impact on his society in general, and his cultural and intellectual legacy.

Both researchers and writers, Dr. Fendi Abu Fakhr and Muhammad Tarabieh, who were students of Jhayyem, referred to his keenness to plant and spread cultural, renaissance, enlightenment and deep patriotic thought and his zeal for serious cultural activity and movement in society.

Writer Sayah al-Jhayyem (1927 – 2000) was born in the village of Kanaker in Sweida Governorate. He left 40 literary and intellectual works.

K.Q.