Mahmoud Darwish is a contemporary Palestinian poet, internationally recognized for his poetry, focused on the strong affection for a lost homeland.

Early Life
Darwish was born in 1941 in the demolished village of Al-Birwah, east of Akko in the British Mandate of Palestine, now Israel. He was the second child of a family of 5 boys and 3 girls. After the establishment of Israel, he fled to Lebanon and stayed there for a year, before secretly re-entering Israel and settling down in Dair Al-Assad and later Aljdaideh.

Education
He continued his primary education in Dair Al-Assad, while always in fear of being discovered by authorities. Later on, he obtained his secondary eduaction in Kufur Yasif, 2 kilometers north of Jdeideh.

Later Life
After completing his secondary education, Darwish began publishing poetry and articles for newspapers and magazines such as “Al-Itihad” and “Al-Jadid”, where he later became the editor. He eventually joined the Communist Party in Israel, and began working as a co-editor of “Alfajr”.

He was repeatedly arrested since for his writing and political activities, and in 1970 he left for Moscow. Later, he moved to Cairo and Beirut, where he worked in the research and publishing institutes of the PLO.

Darwish resigned from the PLO following the Oslo Accords .

He continued as an editor for the “Al-Karmel” magazine, and lived in Paris before coming back to Palestine, entering on a visa to see his mother. While in Palestine, he was issued a permit to stay in the country by the Israeli authorities.

Prizes
The Lotus Prize (1969)
Lenin prize in USSR (1983)
France’s highest medal
The Knight of Arts and Letters (1993)
Prince Claus Prize (2004)

Writings
Birds are Dying in Galilee
Memory for Forgetfulness
Diary of a Palestinian wound
That’s Her Image , And That’s The Suicide Of Her Lover
Something About Homeland
Goodbye War, Goodbye Peace
Many of his poems were set to music by artists such as Marcel Khalife, Majida Al-Rumi, and Ahmad Qa’abour.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Darwish