A street in Muharraq has been named after the late writer and poet Ali Abdulla Khalifa, following a directive from His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in recognition of his contribution to Bahrain’s literary and cultural life.
A plaque bearing Khalifa’s name was unveiled on the street in a ceremony attended by Dr Ramzan bin Abdulla Al Noaimi, Minister of Information; Salman bin Isa bin Hindi Al Mannai, Governor of Muharraq; Khalid Ali Al Qallaf, Director General of Muharraq Municipality; officials from the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA); and members of Khalifa’s family.
Ali Abdulla Khalifa was a Bahraini poet and writer whose work in poetry, research and institutional life helped shape the country’s modern cultural identity.
He was born in Muharraq on 4 March 1944, to a family of pearl divers, and was educated in Bahrain before continuing to build a wide base of general knowledge through his own reading and research. As a poet and a researcher in popular culture, he wrote in both classical Arabic and the vernacular of his native country, and much of his output drew directly on Muharraq’s old neighbourhoods, its relationship with the sea and its popular heritage.
He began publishing poetry in the early 1960s, with his first pieces appearing in Bahrain and Lebanon. His first collection was published by Dar Al-Ilm Lil-Malayin in Beirut in 1969. Even before that, his interest in Bahraini folk culture was already taking shape: as a high school student in 1963, he worked as a guide for Danish ethnomusicologist Poul Rovsing Olsen during fieldwork into the country’s folk music, and in 1966 he assisted Swiss professor Simon Jargy in collecting the contents of Bahraini folk songs.
Beyond his poetry, Khalifa held senior roles across publishing houses, government departments and international folklore organisations in Bahrain, Qatar and beyond.
In 1974, he founded Dar Al Ghad Publishing and Distribution House in Bahrain and, two years later, launched Kitabat, a quarterly literary magazine. Between 1978 and 1980, he headed the Studies and Research Department of Qatar’s Department of Culture and Arts, working alongside Sudanese novelist Al-Tayeb Salih and Dr Issa Ghanem Al-Kuwari. He went on to draft the founding documents for the Folklore Heritage Centre for the Arab Gulf States in 1982, and oversaw its management for five years.
In Bahrain, he established the General Secretariat of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature in 1989, later founded Bahrain Cultural magazine in 1994, and directed the Ministry of Information’s Culture and Arts Department between 1997 and 2000. He was commissioned to establish the Cultural Research Department at the Royal Court in 2001, a role he held for more than two decades. Working with the Ministry of Information, he founded the Bahrain International Folklore Festival in 2007, and went on to launch Folk Culture, a quarterly journal published in eight languages.
His close ties with Bahrain’s intellectual and cultural circles led to numerous projects and initiatives that remain part of the country’s heritage today, and his contributions to poetry, research and institutional work continue to serve as a reference point for researchers interested in Bahraini heritage. By the time of his passing, his roles included:
The street sits in Muharraq because Khalifa grew up there, and the governorate shaped much of his poetic and literary work.
Salman bin Isa bin Hindi Al Mannai, Governor of Muharraq, said naming a street after Khalifa in his home governorate carries particular significance, given that he grew up among its old neighbourhoods and drew much of his poetic and literary experience from its sea, environment and popular heritage. Al Mannai described Khalifa as one of the leading figures to preserve and pass on the memory of Muharraq and Bahrain to future generations, adding that his work carried the governorate’s cultural presence to Gulf, Arab and international audiences. He said Muharraq takes particular pride in the tribute, given Khalifa’s place in its history and identity and the legacy he left behind.
Dr Al Noaimi said the directive reflects His Majesty the King’s appreciation for Bahrain’s leading cultural and literary figures, as well as his commitment to honouring national figures whose contributions to the country’s cultural and intellectual life have helped highlight Bahraini identity and strengthen its presence. He commended Khalifa’s literary and cultural contributions throughout his career, describing his creative legacy as an important part of Bahrain’s cultural memory, and said the street naming was a fitting tribute to a leading national literary figure whose work reached beyond Bahrain’s borders into the wider region.
Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, President of BACA, welcomed the royal directive and pointed to the importance of preserving the names of cultural figures in the Kingdom’s collective memory for future generations. He said Khalifa’s ties with Bahrain’s intellectual and cultural circles led to numerous projects and initiatives that remain part of the country’s heritage, and that his work in poetry, research, and institutional life continues to serve as a reference for those studying Bahraini heritage.
The street naming adds Khalifa’s name to a small number of Bahraini landmarks that carry the names of the country’s literary and cultural figures. For Muharraq in particular, a governorate that has produced many of Bahrain’s writers, artists and craftspeople, the tribute sits alongside the area’s wider efforts to preserve its heritage, from its restored houses to its pearling-era neighbourhoods.
Khalifa’s family were present for the unveiling, alongside officials from the Ministry of Information, Muharraq Municipality and BACA, in a ceremony officials described as recognition of a life spent documenting and shaping Bahrain’s cultural memory.
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