Adonis

Adonis, pseudonym of Ali Ahmad Saïd Esber, was born in 1930 in Al Qassabin, Syria. He studied at the University of Damascus and went into exile in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1956, where he worked for the magazine. Shi'r, one of the most influential literary publications in the Arab world. In 1968, it would found its successor, the equally prestigious MawaqifBoth played a fundamental role in the revival of Arab cultural tradition. In 1985 he moved to Paris, where he still resides today. Considered a leading figure in the modernist movement of Arabic literature, he has published more than fifty books, including poetry, essays, and translations. One of the most important poets and thinkers of the contemporary age, translated into several languages, he has received numerous awards, most notably the Goethe Prize, the Spiros Vergos Prize for Freedom of Expression, the Bjørnson Prize, and the International Nâzim Hikmet Poetry Award. He is considered a favorite for the Nobel Prize in Literature.