Otared Haidar (1964-2024)

Our College community was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dr Otared Haidar. She was a valued member of Wadham, who will be greatly missed by her colleagues and former students.

Otared joined Wadham as a Lecturer in Arabic in 2012. She lectured at many other universities, including the Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS London) and the University of London. Otared was an academic and research staff member of the Department of the Islamic World and Middle East Studies, University of Oxford. Her publications include The Prose Poem and the Shi’r Journal: a Comparative Study of Literature, Literary Theory and Journalism, published by Ithaca Press and, as our Emeritus Fellow Bernard O’Donoghue said, ‘recognised internationally as one of the foremost discussions of its subject in any language’. Otared was an editor in Damascus Centre which is part the Euro-Mediterranean Network of Human rights. She was a member of the British Association of writers.

Our thoughts and sympathy are with Otared’s family and friends at this time.