Abbas Beydoun (born 1945) is a Lebanese poet, novelist and journalist. His poems in Arabic have garnered widespread acclaim and have been translated into multiple languages.

Biography

Beydoun was born in the village of Sur near Tyre in southern Lebanon. His father was a teacher. Beydoun studied at the

Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU; ) is the only state-funded public university in Lebanon. It was established in 1951. The university's main campus was originally located in Beirut, but a few satellite campuses were opened due to travel restriction ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

and the Sorbonne in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He was involved in left-wing politics and spent time in jail as a young man in 1968 and 1982.

Literary Career

Since becoming a full-time writer, he has published 18 volumes of poetry, among them ''Hujurat'', ''Li Mareedin Huwa al-Amal'', and ''Ashiqa'a Nadamuna''. His work has been translated into all the major European languages, and English translations of his poetry have appeared in several issues of ''

Banipal ''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three ti ...

'' magazine. Beydoun has mentioned

Pierre Jean Jouve Pierre Jean Jouve (; 11 October 1887 – 8 January 1976) was a French writer, novelist and poet.Michael Sheringham, 'Jouve, Pierre-Jean', ''Oxford Companion to French Literature''Onlineat answers.com He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Lite ...

and

Yannis Ritsos Yiannis Ritsos ( ; 1 May 1909 – 11 November 1990) was a Greek poet and communist and an active member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. While he disliked being regarded as a political poet, he has been called "the great poet of th ...

among his key poetic influences. He also published a novel called ''Tahlil damm'' in 2002. The English translation by

Max Weiss Miksa (Max) Weisz (21 July 1857 – 14 March 1927) was an Austrian chess player born in the Kingdom of Hungary. Weiss was born in Sereď. Moving to Vienna, he studied mathematics and physics at the university, and later taught those subjects. Wei ...

, titled ''Blood Test'', won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award in 2008. Since 1997, Beydoun has been cultural editor of the Beiruti newspaper ''

As-Safir ''As-Safir'' () was a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon. The headquarters of the daily was in Beirut. It was in circulation from March 1974 until December 2016. The last issue of the paper was published on 31 December 2016. The o ...

''. In 2019, Beydoun was a contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West'' . His 2021 novel ''Boxes of Desire,'' published by Dar al-Ain, was longlisted for the

International Prize for Arabic Fiction The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) (), also known as "the Arabic Booker", is regarded as the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing ...

Awards and honors

*2017

Sheikh Zayed Book Award The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is a literary award presented yearly to writers, intellectuals, publishers whose writings and scholarly publications contributed to Arab cultural, literary and social life. The award has been described as “the Arab ...

in "Literature" for ''Khareef al Bara’a'' (The Autumn of Innocence) *2021 nomination for the

Arabic Booker Prize The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) (), also known as "the Arabic Booker", is regarded as the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing ...

for ''Boxes of Desire''

References

External links

"Writing the Language of Absence": essay by Abbas Beydoun in Banipal magazine

20th-century Lebanese poets Lebanese journalists Lebanese novelists 1945 births Living people Lebanese University alumni University of Paris alumni Lebanese male poets 20th-century Lebanese male writers {{Lebanon-writer-stub