22 October 2014
Minister of Culture Mourns Novelist and Writer, Abdullah Khalifa
Bahrain’s cultural world mourns the death of one its shining stars, novelists, storytellers and critics, Abdullah Khalifa, a renowned Bahraini intellectual, who died aged 66. The deceased wrote many novels, essays, and works of criticism that transcended local and Arab cultural heritage. His quest for a universal philosophy had gained him an intellectual reputation throughout the region and beyond.
Mourning the death of writer Abdullah Khalifa, H.E Shaikha Mai bint Mohammad Al-Khalifa, Minister of Culture, argued that death cannot take away our memories of a Bahraini’s creative mind, saying “We mourn today Abdullah Khalifa whom death takes from us but only the man do we mourn, for destiny endowed his spirit and creative powers with a mysterious beauty that cannot perish”. There is no doubt that Bahrain, the Gulf region, and Arab literature world has lost one of its main symbols. He has left a legacy that made a huge impact in the GCC region in particular and Arab world in general. H.E Minister of Culture added in a statement that the Bahrain Writers Union expressed their profound sorrow on the demise of Abdullah Khalifa.
Writer, novelist and critic, Abdullah Khalifa was born in 1948 in Bahrain. He started writing short stories and novels in the 1960s. He contributed as a literary critic and was a member of Union of Bahraini writers. He was known for his column ‘Horizon’ in our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej (Issues and Opinions page). He wrote 30 books and novels while 10 books are yet to be published. He was also editor of the newspaper’s literary and cultural supplement for many years.
