By Glen Kalem-Habib and Francesco Medici all rights reserved copyright 2022 © When Kahlil Gibran died on April 10, 1931, he had been living for almost twenty years in a one-room studio apartment on the third story of 51 West Tenth Street, NYC. During the latter part of his life, he’d often refer to his studio as ‘The Hermitage’ (al-Sawma‘ah, in Arabic), perhaps wanting to invoke feelings of solitude and refuge away from the sprawling city of New York. Another reason might have been to arouse thoughts and memories of his birthplace in Bisharri, Mt Lebanon, a place he longed to go bac...
Hilda, the Woman Who Fell in Love with Kahlil Gibran and Mikhail Naimy by Francesco Medici One of Gibran’s pencil drawings that was relatively unknown was recently brought to my attention: a portrait of a woman signed and inscribed by the author: “For Anna Hilda from her friend Kahlil Gibran – 1928”. During his life, Gibran carried out hundreds of portraits and “heads”, both of famous people and of common men and women. And it was not rare that friends and acquaintances asked him for portraits of themselves or their relatives. Mainly for this reason, after almost a century after Gibran’s dea...
'Kahlil Gibran Collective'-founder, filmmaker and researcher Glen Kalem is joining the Levant News “Work is love made visible” is one of Glen Kalem’s favorite quotes from Kahlil Gibran’s iconic work, The Prophet. The Lebanese-Australian is an award-winning documentary film producer and research historian of the late poet and artist Kahlil Gibran. His research into the creation of Kahlil Gibran and much more is now available on this platform.By
by Philippe Maryssael, retired translator and terminologist, translator of Kahlil Gibran and contributor to the Kahlil Gibran Collective. Arlon, Belgium, July 29, 2022. "The Eye of the Prophet" by American country music singer-songwriter Johnny Cash John R. Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than ninety million records worldwide. His genre-spanning music embraced country, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel sounds. This crossover appeal earned him the rare honour of being inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame. His music career was dramatized in the 2005 biopic Walk...
AL-MAWAKIB, The Processions - Lost in Translation. by Nicholas Martin[1] On the dust cover of many of Alfred Knopf’s publications of Gibran’s work, we find a quote of Claude Bragdon, saying of Gibran that: "His power came from some great reservoir of spiritual life else it could not have been so universal and potent, but the majesty of the language with which he clothed it were all his own." This, I believe, is unquestionably true. However, the language being “all his own” was not necessarily true when his words were translated, as of course they have had to be so that his works could be more widely shared.
Mikhail Naimy: When Gibran Found "a New Michelangelo" An Excerpt from His Autobiography Introduced and Annotated by Francesco Medici Kahlil Gibran was not the only writer of New York's "Little Syria" who devoted himself to figurative arts. Although amateurish, Ameen Rihani (1876-1940) made several drawings, sketches and paintings (all of which are held at the Ameen Rihani Museum, in his native Freike, Lebanon), and he published some of them in his travel books. For a short while, Mikhail Naimy (1889-1988) also took on the art of pencil and brush, with incurious conviction. In the second volume of his autobiography Seventy: Story of a Lifetime (Sab‘un: Hikayat ‘umr, Beirut, 1959-1960), the "Hermit of al-Shakhroob"[1] Naimy, notes a time when he submitted his "artworks" for ...
by Philippe Maryssael, retired translator and terminologist, translator of Kahlil Gibran and contributor to the Kahlil Gibran Collective. Arlon, Belgium, May 21, 2022. Illustrator Pete Katz adapting The Prophet as a graphic novel Khalil Gibran’s all-time favourite The Prophet (link 1 & link 2) got a fresh treatment by illustrator Pete Katz as a graphic novel adaptation.
By Francesco Medici Gibran’s one-act theatre play Lazarus and His Beloved was posthumously published only in 1973, more than forty years after its author’s death, by his late cousin and namesake Kahlil (George) Gibran (1922-2008) and the latter’s wife Jean (New York: New York Graphic Society).
by Philippe Maryssael, retired translator and terminologist, translator of Kahlil Gibran and contributor to the Kahlil Gibran Collective. Arlon, Belgium, April 21, 2022. Gibran and Pulitzer… What's The Connection? In 1926, three years after the publication of Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece The Prophet (The Prophet & The Prophet Trilogy) and on the very same year his book of aphorisms Sand and Foam was availab...
By Glen Kalem-Habib (article provided by Amina Zheng Ma) All rights reserved © 2022 Gibran’s 90th Death Anniversary in China, A Seminar Hosted by Peking University In commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the death of Khalil Gibran (1883-1931), Peking University in China hosted a hybrid seminar from September 25th to 26th in 2021. The in-person and online attendees from more than ten universities including Peking University (PKU), University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), Tianjin Normal University (TNU), North China University of Technology (NCUT), Ningxia University (NU), Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), exchanged their research works on Gibran. The Ambassador of Leb...
By Glen Kalem-Habib All rights reserved © 2022 Kahlil Gibran's, 1926 work 'Sand and Foam' officially entered the public domain on January 1st, 2022, Ninety-Six years after it was first published. Perhaps it was the eagerness of his publishers Alfred A. Knopf who in 1926 wanted to get Gibran to finish and publish his much-anticipated book, Jesus Son of Man (1928), to capitalize on the rising readership/fame of The Prophet (1923) that Sand and Foam came to fruition first in 1926. Gibran referred to this book as a "
by Philippe Maryssael, retired translator and terminologist, translator of Kahlil Gibran and contributor to the Kahlil Gibran Collective, with the valuable assistance of Glen Kalem-Habib, the founder and administrator of the Kahlil Gibran Collective. Arlon, Belgium, July 26, 2021. The Armed Services Edition of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet around the world On 4 April 2014, Glen Kalem-Habib, the founder and administrator of the Kahlil Gibran Collective, posted an article titled The Prophet of War. That article was about a special edition of Gibran’s masterpiece The Prophet that was made available to all US military personnel from 1943 onwards. Glen was lucky enough to find and purchase a rare surviving copy of that special edition.
by Francesco Medici All rights Reserved © Francesco Medici “Speak to us of Beauty”... ...is the simple exhortation used by an anonymous poet to address Almustafa, the main character in the celebrated poème en prose by Kahlil Gibran titled The Prophet. What is beauty? It is said that at one time the same question was asked to the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, who answered: “I have always been charmed and possessed by it. I have often attempted to use words to communicate what beauty is, yet I have always failed. Beauty is ...
By Richard Mc Sweeney of Ireland © 2 June 2020 RMcS Forward by Glen Kalem-Habib When I first met Richard Mc Sweeney of Ireland at an International Conference on Kahlil Gibran held in Beirut in April 2006, I remember connecting with the 'other' guy who spoke a 'funny' kind of English. Me, the Australian, and he being Irish, we perhaps found ourselves as kindred 'mates' in amongst the cocktail of spoken languages, Lebanese-Arabic, French and American English to name a few. You could say we not only stood out from the crowd, we most definitely sounded different as well. I often looked over towards Richard during the conference, who seemed so transfixed on each speaker, which has to be said; was mainly talking in Arabic! I found myself captivated by his intent lis...
By Glen Kalem - Habib On May 26, 2021, during the opening ceremony of an International Conference organized by the Lebanese House (Al-Bayt Al-Lubnani) in Moscow, a symposium dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Kahlil Gibran's death, a letter by Italian researcher Francesco Medici was read by Dr Mishal Khaddaj, executive secretary of the above-mentioned association. Addressing participants via Zoom the letter was translated for this occasion from the original Russian into Arabic.
by Philippe Maryssael, retired translator and terminologist, translator of Kahlil Gibran and contributor to the Kahlil Gibran Collective. Arlon, Belgium, May 28, 2021. Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet published as a minibook Welcome to the world of miniature books! The true meaning of a miniature book is that it will impress you with its readability and perfect quality right down to the last detail. In 2014, the German publishing house Miniaturbuchverlag in Leipzig published the smallest ever edition of Khalil Gibran’s masterpiece.
By Glen Kalem-Habib and Francesco Medici Announcement: Kahlil Gibran International Conference - Russia (May-June 2021) Where: Al-Bayt al-Lubnany, the Lebanese House in Moscow. Dates: May 26-27 and June 1-2, 2021, at 18:00 (Russian time) Al-Bayt al-Lubnany, the Lebanese House in Moscow is proud to announce the first-ever Kahlil Gibran Conference in Russia. The Lebanese House is an association that celebrates the Lebanese community within Russia and carries...
Interview by Glen Kalem and Francesco Medici Henri Zoghaib is a Lebanese poet and writer, born in the maritime city of Jounieh (10 km north of Beirut). He has taught Arabic literature in many local colleges as well as in American universities while living in the USA (1988-1994). He wrote literary articles in Lebanese and Arab newspapers and journals and has several books of poetry and prose to his credit, among them biographies on Lebanese literary authorities such as Elias Abou Shabaki, Saïd Akl, Rahbani brothers, but he devoted a special part of his writings to Kahlil Gibran...
By Francesco Medici and Glen Kalem-Habib On May 4, 1908, Kahlil Gibran told his patroness Mary Elizabeth Haskell a curious story about his time in Beirut (1898-1902), when he was a student at al-Hikmah College and met a girl who lacked the courage to express her feelings to him. Mary, as she used to do, carefully recorded it on her diary: “I will tell you something in my life [he said.] Something that wi...
by Philippe Maryssael, retired translator and terminologist, Arlon, Belgium, April 10, 2021. Jason Leen completing Kahlil Gibran’s Prophet Trilogy With the support and skills of his friend and benefactress Mary Haskell (1873‑1964), Gibran Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), the world-famous author, poet and artist from Mount Lebanon published his masterpiece The Prophet in New York In September 1923. The Prophet was supposed to be the first installment of a trilogy that Gibran could not complete before he died on 10 April 1931, 90 years ago. He started work on the second installment but decided not to complete it before he published Jesus the Son o...
