Sunday Afternoon and Other Poems

In 1984, Akram wrote his first poem, having been drawn to poetry since his teens. He wrote several more and realized soon that many were focusing on internal emotional issues, particular to Akram. That gave him a jolt. He retracted by destroying most of the poems he had written. He also stopped reading poets whose only concern was internal rumblings. He concentrated on poets with universal, humanistic or philosophic concerns. Luckily, there are many of these poets. Since then, his poems, even though some are in the first person singular, always attempt to move out of the personal and the autobiographical.


About the Author


Akram Najjar is an engineer currently working as a Business Technology Consultant. He completed a B. Sc. in physics and mathematics at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon (1966). He took another B. Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Hertfordshire in England (1969).


Akram spent the first part of his career managing software development companies in Lebanon and the Arabian Gulf. By 1995, he concentrated on contractual work: IT Consulting, Business Process Reengineering, Project Management, Process Mapping, Data Analysis, Frameworks for Software Development and Technical Writing. He worked with various international organizations such as the World Bank, UNDP and the EU. In parallel with his consulting work, Akram focused on management training developing and conducting workshops for the above subjects. This and other books on his site are based on the experience acquired in these workshops.


The three types of books Akram writes (fiction, technical and puzzles) can be traced back to one incident when he was 12. His teacher introduced him to “Scientific American” His name was David W. Miller. Mr. Miller’s whereabouts are not known today. But he is to be thanked and thanked again. The articles were above Akram’s head but his love for astronomy made the magazine fascinating. That eventually led him to study Physics and Mathematics. Coincidentally, the Greek Myths that were used to name the constellations got him interested in Literature, a love that led him to write fiction at a later date.


Akram also got hooked on the Mathematical Games column by Martin Gardner which was the reason Akram was set firmly in Puzzledom. Later on, it was second nature to him to work in software as a career. Software is an abstract practice that is full of puzzles whether you are designing, programming or debugging.


His eBooks are presented on two website. The www.marginalbooks.com site covers technical and literary books. All puzzles and games are presented on www.thehiddenpaw.com.