Google Doodle tribute to 'Guardian of Arabic' Farouk Shousha

The Egyptian poet and broadcaster had a passion for the Arabic language, and he is today’s Google star

Farouk Shousha is being honoured by Google on what would have been his 82nd birthday. Courtesy Google

Today would have been his 82nd birthday, and to mark the occasion the Google Doodle team have chosen the late Egyptian poet Farouk Shousha as their search star.

The cartoon depicting his career and love for the Arabic language appears on Google browsers across the Middle East and North Africa, in countries including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, the UAE, and of course Egypt.

Shousha published 13 poetry anthologies and was awarded the Nile Prize for Literature in 2016, but he's perhaps best known for Lughatuna Al-Jamila (which translates to Our Beautiful Language). The radio show began in the late 1950s, and on it Shousha would recite and dissect Arabic poetry, always treating the language with reverence. He was widely known as the "Guardian of Arabic".

Google penned the doodle to depict what Shousha might have looked like in the studio. Here are early concept sketches of the daily cartoon:

Shousha was born in Damietta in 1936, and passed away on October 14 in 2016. Many notable leaders honoured him on the day of his death, including Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

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