Abbas Beydoun (born 1945) is a Lebanese poet, novelist and journalist. He 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 public university in Beirut, Lebanon. It is ranked #701–750 worldwide in terms of education. The creation of the Lebanese University was an idea first mentioned in the speech of the former Minist ...

in Beirut and the Sorbonne in Paris. He was involved in left-wing politics and spent time in jail as a young man in 1968 and 1982. 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'' 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 Literat ...

and

Yannis Ritsos Yiannis Ritsos ( el, Γιάννης Ρίτσος; 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 be ...

among his key poetic influences. He also published a novel called ''Tahlil damm'' in 2002. The English translation by Max Weiss, 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'' ( ar, السفير, lit=The Ambassador), 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 wa ...

''. 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) ( ar, الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic ...

Awards and honors

*2017 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in "Literature" for ''Khareef al Bara’a'' (The Autumn of Innocence) *2021 nomination for the Arabic Booker Prize 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 male poets 20th-century male writers {{Lebanon-writer-stub