Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish was born on 13 March 1941 and grew up to become Palestine's most essential literary figure, writing in Arabic while moving through English, French, and Hebrew. In November 1988, he authored the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the document that formally established the State of Palestine. His poetry threaded Palestine through metaphors of Eden lost, of birth and resurrection, of the ache that comes with dispossession. He edited literary magazines in Israel and the Palestinian territories, won international awards, and embodied what one tradition calls the political poet…