About Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish (Arabic: مَحمُود دَرْوِيْش, romanized: Maḥmūd Darwīsh; 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian author and poet. He wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which formally established the State of Palestine in November 1988, and is widely regarded as the country's national poet. His poetry and other literature, for which he won numerous awards internationally, was published in Arabic, while he also spoke English, French, and Hebrew. In his poetic works, Darwish explored Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile. He has been described as incarnating and reflecting "the tradition of the political poet in Islam, the man of action whose action is poetry." He served as an editor for several literary magazines in both Israel and the Palestinian territories. Darwish won numerous awards for his works. The first eulogy was delivered by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to an orderly gathering of thousands. He published his first book of poetry, Asafir bila ajniha, or "Wingless Birds," at the age of 19.
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