May 29

Leah Goldberg

Leah Goldberg (לאה גולדברג; ) (born May 29, 1911) – Israeli poet

Read about Lea Goldberg here

Watch a documentary about Goldberg (Hebrew with English subtitles)
 here


G.K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton (born May 29, 1874) – U.K. novelist, poet, short story writer – “The Scandal of Father Brown”

Learn more about Gilbert Keith Chesterton here


Abdul Rahman Munif

Abdul Rahman Munif (born May 29, 1933) – Saudi Novelist - Cities of Salt

Read the Guardian obituary about Munif's writing, including Cities of Salt here

His particular target was injustice. Despite the oil revenue boom, which began in 1973, the Arab world had been characterised by two contrasting and conflicting phenomena: the great financial wealth of the ruling few and the poverty, deprivation, torture and political oppression of the masses in the desert countries of the Middle East. Unsurprisingly, his work was banned in several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia.

His five-part novel The Cities Of Salt (1984-89) registers the history of the Arab world during the oil era and examines Mounif's theory that the Arabs were "the subjects of injustice, deprivation and oppression". A work saturated in symbolism, its message can be applied to any and each city in the Arab oil countries, where "Arabs have been the victims of their rulers and the foreigners."