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Revered as the Palestinian national poet, Mahmoud Darwish was born in al-Birwa, a village that was ravaged by Israelis. He was exiled in Paris and Beirut for many years and was even once put in prison for reciting a poem. His writing style merged traditional Arabic forms with modern elements.
Tamim al-Barghouti is a Palestinian-Egyptian columnist, poet, and political scientist. Dubbed the poet of Jerusalem, Tamim is best known for his critically acclaimed poem In Jerusalem, which he presented in a television competition show called Prince of Poets in 2007. Tamim al-Barghouti has also worked as a professor at Georgetown University and the Free University of Berlin.
A pioneering Arab feminist and romantic poet, May Ziadeh was a major figure of the Nahda, or the Arab Enlightenment of the 20th century. She initially mostly wrote in French, using the pseudonym Isis Copia, while she later drifted toward Arabic. Al-Mûsawât and Sawâneh fatât remain 2 of her best-known works.
Samih al-Qasim was a Palestinian poet whose work is renowned throughout the Arab world. He contributed immensely to popular journals like Al-Jadid, Al-Ittihad, and Index. Samih al-Qasim is also remembered for his political career; he became part of the Israeli Communist Party after the Six-Day War in 1967.
Farah Chamma is a Palestinian spoken-word poet best known as the founder of a band called Parea that combines music with spoken word. A popular poet, Chamma is part of the famous Poeticians Club where she is one of the youngest members. A polyglot, Farah Chamma can speak six languages including French, English, and Arabic.
Palestinian historian, essayist, poet, translator and diplomat Elias Sanbar serves as Palestinian ambassador to the UNESCO since 2012. He is one of the founders of Revue d'études palestiniennes (The Journal of Palestine Studies) and served as its editor-in-chief for 25 years. His book The Palestinians won the Palestine Book Awards in 2015. His works include translating Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry into French.
While he initially studied law in Haifa, poet Abu Salma fled to Aacre when the Israelis conquered the city. He struck up a friendship with poet Ibrahim Tuqan and later won many awards such as the Lotus International Reward for Literature for his works such as My Brush Is from Palestine.
