Shawqi, a friendship of forty years

Ahmed Shawqi is a name that needs no introduction from us; he is a towering literary figure, and we are not here to define him. Rather, we will explore the special friendship that bound him to the esteemed writer Shakib Arslan. The reader experiences a unique pleasure when one writer writes about another, as the distinguished poet descends from his distant, revered position to the realm of a potential friendship with his reader. In the book before us, alongside the pleasure of reading Ahmed Shawqi‘s poetry, which Shakib Arslan presented on various occasions, we will find stories of their friendship and numerous incidents that brought them together as companions on the same path. Life took its course, sometimes distancing them, sometimes drawing them closer, but what united them remained stronger than estrangement and rivalry. The story of forty years of friendship is told with a captivating fluidity that will delight you.