{{Short description|Lebanese poet, novelist, and journalist}} '''Abbas Beydoun''' (born 1945) is a Lebanese poet, novelist and journalist.<ref>[http://www.banipal.co.uk/contributors/59/abbas-beydoun/ Profile in Banipal magazine] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120613055603/http://www.banipal.co.uk/contributors/59/abbas-beydoun/ |date=June 13, 2012 }}</ref> His poems in Arabic have garnered widespread acclaim and have been translated into multiple languages.<ref name=":102">{{Cite book |last=Najem |first=Tom |title=Historical Dictionary of Lebanon |last2=Amore |first2=Roy C. |last3=Abu Khalil |first3=As'ad |last4= |first4= |date=2021 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-2043-9 |edition=2nd |series=Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East |location=Lanham Boulder New York London |pages=56}}</ref>
== Biography == Beydoun was born in the village of Sur near Tyre in southern Lebanon. His father was a teacher. Beydoun studied at the Lebanese University in Beirut and the Sorbonne in Paris.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.literaturfestival.com/archive/participants/authors/2005/abbas-beydoun?set_language=en|title=Abbas Beydoun — internationales literaturfestival berlin}}</ref> He was involved in left-wing politics and spent time in jail as a young man in 1968 and 1982.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Abbas Baydoun {{!}} International Prize for Arabic Fiction |url=https://www.arabicfiction.org/en/node/1720 |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=www.arabicfiction.org}}</ref>
== Literary Career == Since becoming a full-time writer, he has published 18 volumes of poetry, among them ''Hujurat'', ''Li Mareedin Huwa al-Amal'', and ''Ashiqa'a Nadamuna''. His work has been translated into all the major European languages, and English translations of his poetry have appeared in several issues of ''Banipal'' magazine. Beydoun has mentioned Pierre Jean Jouve and Yannis Ritsos among his key poetic influences.
He also published a novel called ''Tahlil damm'' in 2002. The English translation by Max Weiss, titled ''Blood Test'', won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award in 2008.
Since 1997, Beydoun has been cultural editor of the Beiruti newspaper ''As-Safir''.<ref>[http://penatlas.org/online/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=153&Itemid=16 Profile in English PEN World Atlas] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525215910/http://penatlas.org/online/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=153&Itemid=16 |date=May 25, 2012 }}</ref> In 2019, Beydoun was a contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West'' {{ISBN|9781909942288}}.
His 2021 novel ''Boxes of Desire,'' published by Dar al-Ain, was longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Boxes of Desire {{!}} International Prize for Arabic Fiction |url=https://www.arabicfiction.org/en/node/1791 |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=www.arabicfiction.org}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
==Awards and honors== *2017 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in "Literature" for ''Khareef al Bara’a'' (The Autumn of Innocence)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zayedaward.ae/2017/03/sheikh-zayed-book-award-eleventh-session-winners-announced/ |title=Sheikh Zayed Book Award Eleventh Session Winners Announced |work=Sheikh Zayed Book Award website |author= |date=9 March 2017 |accessdate=April 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410115850/http://www.zayedaward.ae/2017/03/sheikh-zayed-book-award-eleventh-session-winners-announced/ |archive-date=10 April 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> *2021 nomination for the Arabic Booker Prize for ''Boxes of Desire''
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120613055618/http://www.banipal.co.uk/selections/22/133/abbas-beydoun/ "Writing the Language of Absence": essay by Abbas Beydoun in Banipal magazine] * [http://en.qantara.de/War-on-Iraq/7599c7668i1p43/index.html An exchange of correspondence between Abbas Beydoun and Michael Kleeberg discussing the war against Iraq]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beydoun, Abbas}} Category:20th-century Lebanese poets Category:Lebanese journalists Category:Lebanese novelists Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Lebanese University alumni Category:University of Paris alumni Category:Lebanese male poets Category:20th-century Lebanese male writers {{Lebanon-writer-stub}}