Sidqi Ismail

Sidqi  Ismail was born in 1924 in  al-affan quarter  in the Syrian  city of Antakya.

-He received his first  education in  al-affan  district’s  school and continued his secondary  study in Antakya  in 1936, then he  moved with his brother Adham to Aleppo where he  received a baccalaureate degree, the  Second Department of  Philosophy in 1943, and joined the Teacher Institute till 1948.

– He became a member of  the Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy, University of Damascus , and graduated in 1952, then  he  earned a bachelor’s degree with honors and obtained a diploma of  education and was appointed as a teacher in Aleppo.

In 1954 he moved to Damascus. –

– He started publishing articles in newspapers and magazines since 1945, and then he  collected these  articles in a book entitled al-Yanabi (springs).

– Sidqi  issued his own newspaper (Al-Kalb) in 1956, it was classified as  a comic and critic manuscript  by his own handwriting. He  used  to distribute the copies of this manuscript  to his closer friends, and he continued in issuing  it  till his death in 1972.

– He married in 1957 from Mrs. Awatef al-Haffar, who  was in the Executive Office of the General Women’s Union , and then an editor in chief of the  Arab women’s magazine.

– Sedqi  struggled with some of  students in the national movement led by  the  thinker Zaki al-Arsuzi  against the conspiracy of extorting of  Liwa Iskenderun.

– In 1936 ,Sidqi was fired by one of the Turks and then he had an emergency surgery.

 – He worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools and  in Teachers Institutions, besides his teaching  in the Syrian University until 1967.

– He was appointed in 1968 as Secretary of the Supreme Council for  arts, literature and social sciences in Damascus.

-In 1969, he  contributed to the establishment of the Arab Writers Union, and became the  Chairman of the Union in 1970. Also he was the  director and editor-in-chief  of  ” al-Mawqef al-Arabi” magazine.

– He participated in a number of international seminars, conferences and literary Arab  festivals.

– Sidqi published his first book entitled (Rambo), which was about the famous French poet.

– He visited France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Greece and Germany

– Sidqi  passed away after a heart attack while he was reviewing the text of the play ( The Days Of Salmon) at the Directorate of theaters in Damascus on 26.09.1972.

M. Wassouf