Butterfly's Burden

Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008) was born in Al-Birwa, a village in Mandatory Palestine, which was destroyed in 1948. He became the national poet of Palestine and one of the most widely translated Arab poets of the twentieth century. His poetry transforms personal exile and collective loss into a lyric of extraordinary beauty and resilience. His collections include A Lover from Palestine (1966), Memory for Forgetfulness (1982), and Unfortunately, It Was Paradise (2003). He served as a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and edited the literary journal Al-Karmel. He received the Lenin Peace Prize in 1983 and the Prince Claus Award in 2004.