Nidaa Khoury

Nidaa Khoury (Arabic: نداء خوري; Hebrew: נידאא ח'ורי) is a lecturer at Ben-Gurion University in the Department of Hebrew literature.

She is also the first Arab-Israeli poet to be included within the literature Bagrut curriculum in Israel.

Nidaa Khoury was born in Fassuta, Upper Galilee, to a family originating in Aleppo, the third-born of four siblings.

Her father worked in the textile industry.

When she was 14, Khoury was sent to Saint Joseph Internal School for Girls in Nazareth.

She married at age 17, when she had to leave school, and had four children.

"Nidaa" is a pen name meaning "a voice calls".

Khoury's first book, I’ll Declare to You My Silence, was published in 1987 and attracted the attention of literature researchers, who cited her poetry's uniqueness and complexity.

Her book Barefoot River was translated into Hebrew by Rozha Tabor and published by Eshkolót Publishers in 1990.

Khoury's books published in Akko, Nazareth, and Jerusalem have won positive reviews, particularly The Wind Belt, published by Abu-Rachmon in Akko in 1990.

A departure in Khoury's writing is embodied by Book of the Flaw, which was rejected by publishers in the Arab world due to its character and content.

Khoury worked at Mercantile Discount Bank for nine years, after which she embarked on her academic path, wherein she studied advertising and public relations at Haifa University (1994).

She earned a Bachelor's degree in philosophy and comparative literature from Haifa University (1995–98), and a Master's in education and behavioral studies from Latvia University (2000).

She studied fine arts administration and got certified as a community center director, also at Haifa University (1996).

Since then, Khoury has published eight more books, among them Rings of Salt, published in Lebanon in 1998 by al-Muassa al-Arabiya, Beirut.

Another book, The Most Beautiful Goddess is crying, was published in Egypt in 2000 by Markaz al-Khadara, Cairo.

She studied industrial entrepreneurship and management at Tel Aviv University (2003).

In 2005, Khoury began teaching in the Hebrew Literature Department of Ben-Gurion University.

She completed a course in company directorship at Ben-Gurion University (2007).

Khoury has published 13 books of poetry, and her works have been translated into many languages.

In 2009, she was appointed Senior Lecturer in the department and in the General Studies Department's conflict resolution program.

Her 2011 collection Book of Sins (House of Nehesi Publishers), was translated into English by Betsy Rosenberg and nominated for the Warwick Prize.

Her 2011 collection, Olive Oil and Pomegranate Crop, was published in Italian as Le stagioni dell’olio e Del melograno by Il Laboratorio le edizioni in Naples.

Another Body (2011), published by Keshev leShirá, is a selection of Khoury's poems written from 1987 to 2010, some written in Hebrew, and others translated from Arabic by Prof. Sasson Somekh, Dr. Hanna Amit Cochavi, and Prof. Na’im Aryadi.

It was ultimately published by Kolbo Sfarìm in Haifa in 2011.

Book of the Flaw is a modernist book of poetry that addresses Christian theology and challenges the sacrament of Holy Communion as a central Catholic ritual.

It demonstrates the breakdown of the source of authority, and undergoes a series of parallel contradictions in the process of attaining redemption.

Since 2011, she has been on the board of directors of the Eliashar Center for the Study of Sephardic Jewry at Ben-Gurion.

Hannah Amit-Cochavi and Ariel Sheetrit, from the Israeli Writers Concordance, on Khoury: “Her poetry style is sensuous and modernist and her poems stand out in their musicality.

Khoury frequently uses first person singular, thus examining the complexities of personal point of view.

In addition, she frequently addresses the reader in second person singular, often with vehement defiance.

Her poetry exposes her inner world…

In contrast, most of her poems focus on oppression of women by men via religion…her writing combines motifs from Christian Scripture and church ritual, which she uses to evoke the intimate ambience that these rituals produce, as well as sharp criticism of the religious establishment…her poetry also contains an element of Ars- Poetical that stems from her awareness of and sensitivity to the power of words and the force of poetry.”

Amit Goldenberg of Beit Avi Hai said of Khoury: “The poet Nidaa Khoury is one of the clearest and most interesting voices in her perspective on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Khoury, a champion of the Palestinian struggle, has walked a long path in recent years, and today looks at reality from a fascinating height in all its complexity, seeking to erase boundaries of state and land, and to focus on the individual.”

She is also an active participant in human rights and has participated in over 30 international human rights conferences and literary festivals.

These include:

In 2013, Khoury was appointed Full Professor.

She also taught in the Department of Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion.

Since 2014, she has served as head of the admissions committee for the conflict resolution program.