Literature
 "Writing is the mother of eloquence and the father of artists," according to a Syrian saying. Syria’s literary tradition is very rich, and reciting poetry goes back to the ancient times. Many modern Syrian poets and writers have moved to Lebanon, where freedom of expression is not as limited as in Syria, and where most Arab publications are produced. Three major figures in modern Syrian literature are Qabbani, Riche, and Adonis, some of whose works are also available in English.
Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani became a national hero under President Hafez al-Assad, who allowed him to be hailed across Syria as one of the nation’s greatest poets. Qabbani’s poetry used simple language and represented the cause of women long before that topic was addressed by others. His poetry also talked about the repression that he and his countrymen faced. Mona Helmi, Egyptian novelist, said, "His greatness came from his ability to put into beautiful words not only the ordinary actions between men and women, but also between the ruler and ruled and the oppressor and the oppressed."
One couplet in particular is often quoted by Arabs as a kind of shorthand for their frustration of life under dictatorship.
"O Sultan, my master, if my clothes are ripped and torn
It is because your dogs with claws are allowed to tear me!"
Qabbani’s second wife, the Iraqi Balqis al-Rawi, was killed in the bombing of the Iraqi Embassy by pro-Iranian terrorists in Beirut in 1981. She was working for the embassy’s cultural section.
The Trial
by Nizar Qabbani
The East receives my songs, some praise, some curse
To each of them my gratitude I bear
For I’ve avenged the blood of each slain woman
and haven offered her who is in fear.
Woman’s rebellious heart I have supported
ready to pay the price - content to die
if love should slay me, for I am love’s champion
and if I ceased, then I would not be I.
Omar Abou Riche, Syria’s Ambassador to Washington in 1962, is another famous modern Arab poet, whose poems were translated into English in a collection entitled "The Unstruck Melody."
The mystical and the revolutionary dissolve into a harmonious vision in the writings of Ali Ahmad Said, a.k.a. Adonis, a Syrian poet and literary critic. A graduate of Damascus University with a doctorate from Beirut, he took up Lebanese citizenship later in his life. His influential writings have had a major effect on Arabic literature.
Among Syrian actors and TV personalities, Duraid Laham, a chemist by profession, has become one of the most famous Syrian comedians. The former UNICEF Ambassador still acts in television shows.
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