Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Literature & Poetry

24

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Nash Candelaria

United States

c. 1929 – 2016 (87 years old)

Nash Candelaria was an American novelist. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Washington, D.C., United States

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Literature & Poetry

23

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Joseph Ritz

United States

c. 1930 – 2016 (86 years old)

Joseph P. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Washington, D.C., United States

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Literature & Poetry

22

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Marjorie Pizer

Australia

c. 1921 – 2016 (95 years old)

Marjorie Pizer (1921–2016) was a distinguished Australia public figure recognized for outstanding contributions in literature.

Canberra, Australia

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Literature & Poetry

22

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Frances Cress Welsing

United States

c. 1936 – 2016 (80 years old)

Frances Luella Cress Welsing was an American psychiatrist and well-known proponent of the pseudoscientific melanin theory. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Washington, D.C., United States

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Literature & Poetry

22

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Fazu Aliyeva

Russia

c. 1933 – 2016 (83 years old)

Fazu Aliyeva was an Avar-speaking Soviet-born Russian poet, novelist and journalist. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Moscow, Russia

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Literature & Poetry

5

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Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye

Marjorie King

Great Britain

1928-10-21 – 2015-12-01 (87 years old)

Celebrated novelist and poet acclaimed as the 'Mother of Kenyan Literature', whose 1986 masterwork 'Coming to Birth' won the Sinclair Prize and captured the birth of independent Kenya.

Siaya, Kenya

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Literature & Poetry

10

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Fatima Mernissi

فاطمة المرنيسي

Morocco

1940 – 2015 (75 years old)

World-renowned Moroccan sociologist and feminist author whose groundbreaking books Beyond the Veil and The Forgotten Queens of Islam revolutionized the understanding of gender in the Muslim world.

Rabat, Morocco

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Literature & Poetry

18

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Fatema Mernissi

فاطمة المرنيسي

Morocco

1940 – 2015 (75 years old)

World-renowned Moroccan sociologist and author whose landmark books 'Beyond the Veil' and 'The Veil and the Male Elite' reexamined Islamic history, patriarchy, and women's rights.

Rabat, Morocco

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Literature & Poetry

22

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Gamal al-Ghitani

جمال الغيطاني

Egypt

May 9, 1945 – October 18, 2015 (70 years old)

Towering Egyptian novelist, war correspondent, and cultural editor whose acclaimed masterpiece 'Zayni Barakat' utilized late Mamluk historical chronicles to construct a dazzling allegory of modern authoritarian surveillance and state control.

Cairo, Egypt

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Literature & Poetry

6

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Ali Bouhjar

علي بوجدار

Tunisia

1935 AD – 2015 (80 years old)

Prominent southern Tunisian novelist and dramatist whose works captured the social transformations, oasis landscapes, and folk resilience of the Tunisian desert margins.

Gabès, Tunisia

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Literature & Poetry

2

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Jean Pliya

Jean Pliya

Benin

1931-07-21 – 2015-05-14 (83 years old)

Preeminent Beninese playwright and novelist whose monumental historical drama 'Kondo le requin' (Grand Prix Littéraire d'Afrique Noire) immortalized King Behanzin's resistance against colonialism.

Abomey, Benin

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Literature & Poetry

15

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Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi

عبد الرحمن الأبنودي

Egypt

1938 – 2015 (77 years old)

Affectionately celebrated as 'Al-Khal' (The Maternal Uncle), he was Egypt's premier vernacular poet who spent thirty years traveling across the Arab world to record the million-verse oral epic Sirat Bani Hilal.

Ismailia, Egypt

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Literature & Poetry

13

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Abdelhadi Tazi

عبد الهادي التازي

Morocco

1921 – 2015 (93 years old)

Distinguished Moroccan historian, diplomat, and member of the Royal Academy of Morocco, internationally renowned for his 10-volume historical study of the Qarawiyyin and critical edition of Ibn Battuta.

Salé, Morocco

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Literature & Poetry

5

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Tomas Tranströmer

Tomas Gösta Tranströmer

Sweden

1931-04-15 – 2015-03-26 (83 years old)

Swedish poet awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature 'because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality', translated into sixty languages.

Stockholm, Sweden

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Literature & Poetry

5

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Grace Ogot

Grace Emily Akinyi

Kenya

1930-05-15 – 2015-03-18 (84 years old)

Trailblazing East African author whose 1968 collection 'Land Without Thunder' made her the first female East African fiction writer published in English, later serving as Member of Parliament.

Siaya, Kenya

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Literature & Poetry

33

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Assia Djebar

آسيا جبار (فاطمة الزهراء إيملاين)

Algeria

1936 – 2015 (78 years old)

Foremost Algerian novelist, essayist, and filmmaker who gave voice to Algerian women silenced by colonialism and patriarchy, becoming the first writer from North Africa elected to the Académie Française in 2005.

Cherchell, Algeria

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Literature & Poetry

22

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Raoul Pantin

Switzerland

c. 1944 – 2015 (71 years old)

Raoul Pantin was a Trinidad and Tobago journalist, editor, poet and playwright. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Geneva, Switzerland

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Literature & Poetry

21

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Arnaldo Calveyra

Argentina

c. 1930 – 2015 (85 years old)

Arnaldo Calveyra was an Argentine poet, novelist and playwright, living in Paris since 1960. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

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