Jawdat Fakhreddine

was born in 1953 in southern Lebanon. He has published seven collections of poetry, the first in 1979. Some of these collections are: Awham Rifiyya, 1980 (Rural Illusion), Manaraton lil Ghariq, 1996 (A Beacon for the Drowning), Samawat, 2002 (Skies). He is professor of Arabic literature and criticism at the Lebanese University, Beirut. He has two books of literary theory: Shakl al-Qasida al-Arabia fi al-Naqel al-Arabi Hata al-Qarn'a Thamin al-Hijiri, 1984 (The Form of the Arabic Poem in Arabic Criticism until the Eight Century of the Hijra) and al- Iyqa wal Zaman: Kitabat fi al Naqd ash-Shi'ri, 1995 (Rhythm and Time: Writings in Poetry Criticism). He has published reviews and studies in a number of newspapers and journals in Lebanon and the Arab world. Some of his poems have been translated into English, French and German. English translations have been published also in the Marlboro Review (USA)