In The Midst Of Hardship;-Background of the Poet

Latiff Mohidin
Born on 25 August 1941 in Negeri Sembilan, Latiff Mohidin was educated at Lenggeng, Seremban, Singapore, and the University of Fine Arts in Berlin. This poet and artist has held exhibitions of his works and travelled abroad extensively in the 1960s and 1970s. He has served as Writer in Residence at the Science University of Malaysia, Penang, the National University of Malaysia and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. At present, Latiff is a freelance poet and artist. His poems have won the Putra I poetry Award. Among his books are: Sungai Mekong (1972), Kembara Malam (1974), and Wayang Pak Dalang (1977). Garis: Dari Titik ke Titik (1988), a book on the creative process (art and poetry), won the Honourable Diploma Prize at the Festival of International Books at Leipzig, Germany in 1989.
Latiff Mohidin is usually known for his graphic and imagistic experiment. He addresses social themes in his poems, illustrating the all-important concept that poetry serves society. Among the poems he has written are Dream 1, Mirror, The Puppeteer’s Wayang, Words Adrift on Air, The Legend of the Dawn, His Thick Shroud, The Shore of Time, Mask of My Name is Rawana and ‘A City, A Grandmother and Death’.