Janna Ezat
1965– · Mosul
Janna Adnan Ezat was born in Mosul, Iraq, in 1965. She began to learn calligraphy as a child with the Mosul calligrapher Yusuf Dhannun, and Al Bayan reports that she was called the youngest licensed calligrapher when she was about ten. Arabic Wikipedia and Al Bayan say she later received ijazas from Hamid al-Amidi in Turkey and Sayyid Ibrahim in Egypt, and in 2015 Dhannun gave her an honorary higher ijaza. She studied art in Baghdad and at the University of Mosul. Her main scripts are thuluth, jali thuluth and the tughra, and she is known for writing with both hands at once and for bringing colour into the letter. For some years she worked in the United Arab Emirates, where she wrote panels of sayings of Sheikh Zayed and designed clocks and stamps with lettering. From 2014 to 2016 she made maps of Arab countries out of Qur'anic verses. She later settled in New Zealand.
Achievements
- Holds two ijazas, from Hamid al-Amidi of Turkey and Sayyid Ibrahim of Egypt, according to Arabic Wikipedia and Al Bayan.
- Received an honorary higher ijaza from her first teacher Yusuf Dhannun in 2015.
- Known for writing with both hands at the same time.
- From 2014 to 2016 drew maps of Iraq and other Arab countries made of Qur'anic verses, and panels of Mosul's al-Hadba minaret and the Malwiya of Samarra.
- Her works appeared in the Abu Dhabi yearbook in 2005 and 2006; she was honoured by the University of Mosul in 2001.
- Member of the Iraqi, Jordanian and Egyptian calligraphers' societies; exhibitions in Iraq, Turkey, the UAE and New Zealand.
Taught by: Yusuf Dhannun, Hamid Aytaç, Sayyid Ibrahim
Her work
Living calligrapher: her calligraphy is still under copyright, so no works are shown.
Write in the tradition this hand shaped.
Write in this tradition now →Living calligraphers you can buy from — signed originals on paper, from AED 550: Anwar Alhulwani (Thuluth) · Ahmed Alhawary (Jali Thuluth, Naskh) · Rasha Kasim (Kufi) — or every Thuluth piece the store makes: Thuluth collection.
Sources
- Arabic Wikipedia: born Mosul 1965, Dhannun, ijazas from al-Amidi and Sayyid Ibrahim, 2015 higher ijaza, UAE work, maps 2014–2016, honour 2001 ar.wikipedia.org
- Al Bayan (2016): Mosul 1965, teachers, two ijazas, licensed at about ten (1975), both hands, maps of verses, memberships albayan.ae
- Al Khaleej Online: maps made of Qur'anic verses alkhaleejonline.net
- Wikidata: birth 21 March 1965, Mosul wikidata.org
Written by the MASHQ studio · last updated 2026-10-05. Further reading, the standard references in English: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh University Press, 2006) · Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture (New York University Press, 1984) · Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy (Thames and Hudson, 1978).