Ali Abdulla Khalifa
Ali Abdullah Khalifa is a Bahraini poet. He was born in the city of Muharraq in 1944. He is considered as one of the contemporary poets, who has greatly contributed to the new poetry movement in Bahrain and other Gulf countries.
His poems are based on various topics such the condemnation of injustice and despotism, description of the beauty of the sea and the suffering of sailors, and honoring of their sacrifices and glories. He has written several emotional poems showing the intensity of blazing feelings amongst lovers, using local dialect, which is a part of Bedouin form of poetry in the Arab Gulf states. He has published eleven collections of poems and some of them have been translated to English, French, Italian and Portuguese.
In his professional career, Ali occupied many important positions, namely: President of the International Organization of Folk Art (IOV), Chairman of the Board of the National Cultural Forum, Founding Member of the Bahrain’s Writers Association, Member of the Art College Council at Bahrain University1998-2008, Director of the Cultural Research Unit at the Royal Court since 2001, and the Editor in Chief of ‘The Folk Culture’ Journal issued by the Cultural Archives for Studies, Researches and Publishing in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
In addition, he had founded ‘The Arab Gulf States Folklore Centre’ in Qatar, in 1981, for which he served as Director for five years. He also released issued the ‘Folk Arts Magazine; in Qatar in 1984 and has been its Editor-In-Chief.
Ali has received various academic honorary certificates such as Honorary Doctor of Arts from Giuseppe Sakllona International University – USA 1987, Honorary Diploma of the World Academy of East and West in the field of arts – Romania 2006.
He has received several awards and decorations for his extensive poetry. He was awarded: The First Poetry Award – Magazine (Here Bahrain) in 1966; Shield of creativity – The World Day of Poetry in 2004 for his production of overall poetic and pioneering role in Bahrain’s modern poetry movement ‘A family of writers and Bahraini writers’, World Grand Prize in Arts – World Academy for East and West – Romania 2006.
His decorations include: Medal of Competence presented by the late President Habib Bourguiba – Arab Poetry Festival 1973, Sheikh Issa bin Salman Al Khalifa (the late Emir of Bahrain) – Bahrain 2000, First Class Medal of Honor from His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of Bahrain – 2002.
For more details on the poets awards, recognition and his works, please visit: www.alikhalifa.com
