Nazik al-Mala’ika Award

The Department of English and Comparative Literature at AUC hosts the Nazik al-Mala’ika Award ceremony honoring graduate student Michael Nader Yacoub for his thesis, “The Communal Lyric: Poetry in Devotional and Oppressed Communities.” Join us to celebrate excellence in literary scholarship.

Named after Nazik al-Mala’ika (1923–2007), the pioneering Iraqi poet and critic who helped revolutionize modern Arabic poetry through the introduction of free verse, the award pays tribute to her lasting literary legacy. A central figure in reshaping over a millennium of poetic tradition, al-Mala’ika’s work—most notably Cholera—blended Romanticism with social critique. Having spent part of her later life in Cairo, her contributions remain a significant area of study at AUC and in broader academic discussions on modern Arabic literature.