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Ghassan Zaqtan
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Ghassan Zaqtan (born in Beit Jala in 1954) is one of Palestine‘s most important and innovative poets. He has lived in Jordan, Beirut, Damascus and Tunis, where he began publishing books of poems and worked as an editor of various literary magazines. In 1994 he moved to Ramallah, where in 1998 he co-founded the ‘House of Poetry’ with other Palestinian poets and was the head of the Literature and Publications Department of the Culture Ministry of the autonomous Palestinian Authority. He is currently an adviser for cultural policy in the welfare association and a member of the board of the Mahmoud Darwish Foundation. He writes a weekly column in the Palestinian daily paper Al-Ayyam and edits the quarterly cultural magazine Narrative.
His work has been translated into many languages. As well as poetry he has written prose texts, a short novel, plays and screenplays. His poetry collection Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me was awarded the Canadian Griffin Prize in 2013 and was shortlisted the same year for the US Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In recognition of his services to Palestinian and Arabic literature he was awarded the National Medal of Honor by the Palestinian president in 2013.
Publications (poetry):
Ka-tayrinmin al-qashshyatba’uni.Riyad El Rayyes 2008 / Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me. Yale UniversityPress 2012
Sira bi al-fahm.Riyad El Rayyes 2003
Istidraj al-jabal. Al-Muassasaal-arabiya 1999
Samakhafifa. Al-Ahali1993
Laisa min ajli. Dar al-multaqa 1992