Riad Saleh Hussein

Riad Saleh Hussein (1954–1982) was a Syrian poet from Aleppo province who was mute. He worked for Cinema Life Magazine in Damascus and later the Tishreen Daily. He died after a brief arrest. He is considered a pioneer of Arabic prose poetry and is linked to the Beat Generation in some accounts. His work draws on Surrealism and combines personal imagery with experimental form. His selected poems, Tango Below a Narrow Ceiling, appeared in English from Bitter Oleander Press in 2021, translated by Saleh Razzouk and Philip Terman.