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Khalil Gibran, also known as Kahlil Gibran, was born on January 6, 1883 in Northern Lebanon. As a result of his family's poverty, he received no formal education as a small child but had regular visits from the local priest who taught him about the Bible as well as the Syrian and Arabic languages. After his father was imprisoned for embezzlement and his family's property was confiscated by the authorities, his mother decided to emigrate to the United States in 1895. They settled in Boston's South End. He attended public school and art school, where he was introduced to the artist, photographer, and publisher Fred Holland Day. A publisher used some of Gibran's drawings for book covers in 1898. His family forced him to return to Lebanon to complete his education and learn the Arabic language. He enrolled in Madrasat-al-Hikmah, a Maronite-founded school, which offered a nationalistic curriculum partial to church writings, history and liturgy. He learned Arabic, French, and exceled in poetry. He returned to the United States in 1902. In 1904, he hosted his first art exhibit, which featured his allegorical and symbolic charcoal drawings. During this exhibition, he met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, who would go on to fund Gibran's artistic development for nearly his entire life. Not only was he an artist, but he also wrote poetry and other works including The Madman, The Prophet, and Sand and Foam. He died of cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis on April 10, 1931. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from The Prophet… (more)
Khalil Gibran (full Arabic name Gibran Khalil Gibran, sometimes spelled Kahlil;[a] Arabic: جبران خليل جبران / ALA-LC: Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān or Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer.
Born in the town of Bsharri in the north of modern-day Lebanon (then part of Ottoman Mount Lebanon), as a young man he immigrated with his family to the United States, where he studied art and began his literary career, writing in both English and Arabic. In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel. His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero.
He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, gaining popularity in the 1930s and again especially in the 1960s counterculture.
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