Muhydin Lazikani
Senior Visiting Fellow
Dr. Muhydin Lazikani is a Syrian author, poet, thinker, and political activist.
Lazikani has enjoyed a long career as a journalist, including as a prominent columnist in the leading Arabic newspapers Al Sharq Al-Alwsat and Al-Arab. He also served as Head of the Culture Department at Al Sharq Al-Alwsat for sixteen years.
Dr. Lazkani established the International Centre of Arabic Manuscript in Britain in 1995, and his periodic column ‘Tawaheen Al-Kalaam’ Windmills of Words won the Arabic journalism prize. He is currently the editor-in-chief of Al-HodHod, an international journal published in five languages (Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Persian).
Dr. Lazikani has also produced and presented outstanding culturally and politically based talk-shows for Arabic television channels and participated in numerous cultural and media conferences.
He has authored and critiqued books, poems, and theater manuscripts translated into different international languages. His most recent masterpiece is The Woman, the Universal Lamp’ (al-ontha misbah il-kowm- Odissa anisaa bayna alhoriya wal haramlik).
In his political career, Dr. Lazakani in 2005 founded the Syrian Democratic Current Party, an organization dedicated to promoting democratic values in Syria and the broader Middle East. He is also currently a member of the Syrian National Council.
Originally from Sarmada, Idlib, he completed his university studies in Aleppo province and later received his Ph.D. in Arabic Literature from Alexandria, Egypt. Dr. Lazakani has resided in London since the early 1980s, where he has raised two daughters and one son, in addition to twelve books that he considers his good children. Some of his masterpieces include: ‘ Trilogy of Karmuti Dreams’ (Tholasia al-holom al-karmuti), ‘Against the Stream’ (Aks il- tayar), ‘The Fathers of Arabic Modernism’ (Aba il Hadatha al-Arabia), ‘ The Wordmill’ (tawaheen al-kalam). Poetry and Plays: ‘ The Suicide of Ayoob’ (Intihar Ayoob), ‘ A song outside the flock’ (oghnia kharij il sirb), ‘ Whoever is sad, follow me’ (man kana hazinan fal yatbalni), ‘Pigeons do not like Vodka’ (al-hamam la yohibo al-vodka).