Darwish is considered to be the most imortant Arab poet working today. He was born in 1942 in the village of Barweh in the Galilee, which was razed to the ground by the Israelis in 1948. As a result of his political activism he faced house arrest and imprisonment. He left Israel in 1971, and lived in exile until his return in 1996 to Palestine. His poems are known throughout the Arab world, and several of them have been put to music. His poetry has gained great sophistication over the years, and has enjoyed international fame for a long time. He has published around 30 poetry and prose collections, which have been translated into 35 languages. He is the editor in chief of the prestigious literary review Al Karmel, which has resumed publication in January 1997. He published in 1998 his new poetry collection: Sareer El Ghariba (Bed of the Stranger), his first collection of love poems

(poetry translations)