Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Literature & Poetry

29

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Zelimkhan Yaqub

Switzerland

c. 1951 – 2016 (65 years old)

Zelimkhan Yaqub was an Azerbaijani Turkish poet and also politician. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Geneva, Switzerland

29 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

28

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Gianni Rondolino

Italy

c. 1933 – 2016 (83 years old)

Gianni Rondolino was an Italian film critic and historian.. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Rome, Italy

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Literature & Poetry

24

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Jewel Kats

United States

c. 1979 – 2016 (37 years old)

Michelle Meera Katyal was a Canadian children's author who wrote under the pen name Jewel Kats. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Washington, D.C., United States

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Literature & Poetry

26

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Labhshankar Thakar

India

c. 1936 – 2016 (80 years old)

Labhshankar Jadavji Thakar, also known by his pen names Lagharo and Vaidya Punarvasu, was a Gujarati poet, playwright and story writer from India. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

New Delhi, India

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Literature & Poetry

27

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Nivaria Tejera

Switzerland

c. 1930 – 2016 (86 years old)

Nivaria Tejera was a Cuban poet and novelist. Celebrated internationally for distinguished contributions to literature.

Geneva, Switzerland

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Literature & Poetry

25

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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

24

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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

23

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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

23

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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

23

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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

5 Full Record →

Literature & Poetry

11

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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

19

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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

23

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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

7

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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

0

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Corsino Fortes

Corsino António Fortes

Cape Verde

1933-02-14 – 2015-07-24 (82 years old)

Major 20th-century Cape Verdean poet and diplomat whose monumental trilogy 'A Cabeça Calva de Deus' ('The Bald Head of God') forged an epic, sculptural poetic language for island identity.

Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde

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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

16

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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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