Fathieh Saudi obituary

My Jordanian friend Fathieh Saudi, who has died aged 76, was a doctor, writer and poet. She studied medicine in France and worked as a paediatrician in Lebanon from 1976 to 1982, producing L’Oubli Rebelle (1985), about her experiences in the Lebanese civil war, in French. She then translated the book into Arabic as Ayam al Jamr (Days of Amber) in 1990.

On moving from Jordan to London in 2001, Fathieh started writing poetry in English. In 2007, she published The Prophets: A Poetic Journey from Childhood to Prophecy, retelling the stories of religious figures as dramatic monologues. Two years later, she published River Daughter, a short collection that describes the central place of the Thames in her life. Two longer versions of the previous collections were published in 2012 – Prophetic Children, and Daughter of the Thames. In them, one can sense the deep suffering the poet experienced from polio, cancer and the disappointments of the heart.

In London she gained confidence in her native language. After Daughter of the Thames, she decided to translate the poems into Arabic, in Bint Alnaher (2012).

Born in Amman, she was one of the six daughters and three sons of Abdel Majid Saudi, a businessman, and his wife, Yusra Dalbeeq. One sister, Mona, became a sculptor. Fathieh was educated at Zein el Sharaf school in the capital, and qualified as a paediatrician at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Fathieh received several awards for her medical, humanitarian and cultural work, and was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite de France. She was a chair ofExiled Writers Ink (2008-09), and a longstanding committee member working closely with the founding director, Jennifer Langer. She was also an editorial committee member of Exiled Ink magazine, a trustee of English PEN and a member of its writers in translation committee, and a member of the Anglo-Jordanian Society.

Her poetry was published in Exiled Ink magazine, Psychosynthesis, Lapidus andthe London Magazine.

She is survived by her sisters, Majida, Zain, Mona and Hana’, and a brother, Ghazi.