Additional information
by Mahmoud Darwish (Author), Fady Joudah (Translator)
Winner of the PEN USA Literary Award for Translation
Mahmoud Darwish was that rare literary phenomenon: a poet both acclaimed by critics as one of the most important poets in the Arab world and beloved by his readers.
His language--lyrical and tender--helped to transform modern Arabic poetry into a living metaphor for the universal experiences of exile, loss, and identity. The poems in this collection, constructed from the cadence and imagery of the Palestinian struggle, shift between the most intimate individual experience and the burdens of history and collective memory.
Author Biography
Mahmoud Darwish was born in the village of al-Birweh in what was then Western Galilee, Palestine. He published more than twenty volumes of poetry and ten volumes of prose. He was the recipient of numerous awards for both his poetry and his political activism.
Fady Joudah is a physician, poet, and translator. His translation of Mahmoud Darwish's The Butterfly's Burden was a finalist for the 2008 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation.
