Said Akl, Lebanese poet, playwright, and linguist (b. 1912)
Said Akl (Arabic: سعيد عقل, Saʿīd ʿAql, also transliterated Saïd Akl, Said Aql and Saeed Akl; 4 July 1911 – 28 November 2014) was a Lebanese poet, philosopher, writer, playwright and language reformer. He is considered one of the most important Lebanese poets of the modern era. He is most famous for his advocacy on behalf of codifying the spoken Lebanese language as competency distinct from Standard Arabic, to be written in a modern modified Roman script consisting of 36 symbols that he deemed an evolution of the Phoenician alphabet. Despite this, he was a gifted Arabist and contributed to several literary movements in Modern Standard Arabic, producing some of the masterpieces of modern Arabic belle lettres.
His writings include poetry and prose both in Lebanese and in Classical Arabic. He has also written theatre pieces and authored lyrics for many popular songs, such as Meshwar (Trip), and the classical Shal (Scarf), the latter of which was sung by Fairouz and composed by the Rahbani Brothers, which Egyptian composer and singer Abdel Wahab described as "the most beautiful poem composed into a song in Arabic music."