We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ahmed Rashid Thani - a great Emirati voice, poet, author and journalist. Born in Khorfakkan in 1963, he started writing poetry in the late 1970s. In 1981, he published a collection of poetry in vernacular Arabic. He republished it in the 1990s with additional poems, under the title O! You Eat Dates. You Collect Gold.

This was followed by further volumes, including Drowning Verge, Morning Sits Next to Sea and Then Night Comes And Takes Me. Ahmad's poems have been published in Arab and local newspapers and magazines, and have been translated into French and German.

He was an authoritative voice at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and in the Arab World.