21st-century Bahraini poets

Qassim Haddad (born 1948) is a Bahraini poet, particularly notable within the Arab world for his free verse poetry. His poems have been translated in several languages including German, English and French.

Ali Al Jallawi (in Arabic علي الجلاوي born in 1975 in Manama, Bahrain) is a poet, researcher, and writer. After two periods of imprisonment for writing poetry critical of the political regime in Bahrain, Al Jallawi has gone on to publish seven volumes of his work, most recently Tashta’il karazat nahd, 2008. He has written books on the Baha’i and Jewish communities in Bahrain, and presented his poetry at dozens of literary festivals both in the Arab world and elsewhere. In Manama, he ran a research center dedicated to raising awareness of Bahrain's minority communities. However, during the Bahraini uprising, he fled the country to avoid further imprisonment. The PEN committee organized a literary fellowship in Weimar for him to save him a lengthy application for political asylum in Germany. By May 2012, he was still living in Germany, now as a fellow of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. He is currently working on a novel titled Yadallah's Shoes.

Ali Al Shargawi (Arabic: علي الشرقاوي‎) is a leading Bahraini poet, lyricist and playwright whose work has been translated into English, German, Bulgarian, Russian, Kurdish, and French. Born in Manama in 1948, he started publishing his poetry in 1968, and quickly gained prominence in Arab newspapers and magazines.

Mohammed Hadi Ahmed Mansour Al Halwaji (Arabic: محمد هادي أحمد منصور الحلواجي‎) is a Bahraini poet and politician.

Sheikh Isa bin Rashid bin Abdullah bin Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa bin Salman bin Ahmed Al-Fateh bin Mohammed Al Khalifa (Arabic: الشيخ عيسى بن راشد بن عبد الله بن عيسى بن علي بن خليفة بن سلمان بن أحمد الفاتح بن محمد آل خليفة‎, born January 1, 1938, died March 12, 2020) was a Bahraini poet. Born in Muharraq, he moved to Riffa and lived there for most of his life. He died on March 12, 2020, after a struggle with illness.

Abdul Rahman Mohammed Rafi (Arabic: عبد الرحمن محمد رفيع‎, born in 1936, died on March 11, 2015) was a Bahraini poet. He was born in the capital of Manama and studied at Cairo University. Working as an observer for cultural affairs at the Ministry of Information, he has authored many poetry collections and is known for working in both Modern Standard Arabic and nabati (vernacular in this case Bahraini Arabic) forms. He died in his hometown.

Ahmed bin Yaqoub bin Yusef Al-Madan (Arabic: أحمد يعقوب يوسف المَدَن‎, born in 1955) is a Bahraini poet. Born in the village of Nuwaidrat, he studied in local public schools and at King Saud University, from which he graduated as a civil engineer in 1980. He has worked in a number of engineering fields in Bahrain and has published several collections of poetry.

Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Hamad Al Khalifa (Arabic: أحمد بن محمد بن خليفة بن حمد آل خليفة‎, born in 1929, died March 29, 2004) was a Bahraini poet. Born in the village of Al Jasra, he held several government jobs in his youth, and then became a self-employed poet and writer. He represented his country at a number of literary conferences in several Arab capitals. As the author of several collections of poetry, he saw his first four collections printed as العناقيد الأربعة (“Four Collections”) in 1980.

Fathiya Ajlan (Arabic: فتحية عجلان‎, born in 1954 in Muharraq) is a Bahraini poet and lyricist.

Taqi Muhammad Baharna (Arabic: تقي محمد البحارنة‎, born in 1930) is a Bahraini sociology poet, diplomat, and businessman. He was born in the capital of Manama. Educated in literature and economics, he has served as Bahrain’s ambassador to Egypt and headed Bahrain’s mission to the Arab League. He has also published his poetry and literature in a number of Bahraini and Arab periodicals, and he has written several books.