The Forerunner

Kahlil Gibran (Djubran Kahlil Djubran) was born in 1883 in Bcharré, a Maronite Christian village in the mountains of northern Lebanon. His childhood was one of extreme poverty and, in 1895, he emigrated to the USA with his mother and siblings. He was living with his family in the slums of Boston when his artistic talent caught the attention of photographer and editor Fred Holland. Through Holland, Kahlil began to frequent Boston's literary and artistic circles. He returned to Lebanon to finish his studies and left in 1908 for Paris, where he studied with Auguste Rodin. In 1912 he moved to New York, where he devoted himself to painting and wrote for some Arab newspapers. From the publication of his first works, he was considered a figure of great importance in modern Arabic literature. With the publication of The Prophet in 1923, his literary reputation was definitively established. He died in 1931.