CURRICULUM VITAE
                                                                                        
Name : Ali Ahmad Saïd Esber
Pen name : ADONIS
Born in Qassabin, Syria   1930
He lived and had his cultural activity in Beirut, Lebanon, Mainly  from 1956 to 1986
Natonality: Lebanese - French
Resides in France since 1986

EDUCATION

Schooling in Tartous and Lattaquié, Syria
B.A. at Damascus University, Syria, 1951-1954
Ph.D. at University of St Joseph, Beirut, 1970-1973

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

1971-1985     Lebanese University: Professor of Arabic Literature. 

1971-1985      University of St Joseph, Beirut: Ph.D. Advisor
1980-1981      Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (Censier-paris III) :
                       Visiting professor of Arabic Literature.
1983               Collège de France, Paris: Invited to lecture on Modernity in 
1985              Georgetown University: Invited to lecture on Modernity in
Arab Culture.

    1. Université de Genève/ Associate professor in charge of a 

seminar on Arab Poetry.

    1.    Fellowship by Transregional Institute, Center of International

Studies at Prinston University.

1998-1999     Fellowship – Institute of Advanced Studies in Berlin.
2000-2001     Fellowship – Institute of Advanced Studies in Berlin

  

CULTURAL  ACTIVITIES

    1. Co-founded and co-edited the literary review Shi’r.

 1964            Founded the literary review Afâq.
1967             Founding member of the Lebanese Writer’s Union.

  1. Founded the literary review Mawâqif of which he was editor

In chief until 1995

 
 OTHER ACTIVITIES
 

    1. UNESCO, Paris : Permanent Representative of the Arab

League. 

HONOURS AND AWARDS
     
      1961      Prix de la revue  Shi`r
1968       Prix des Amis du Livre, Beirut.
1971        Syria-Lebanon Award of the International Poetry Forum, Pittsburg.
1974      National Prize of Poetry, Beirut.
1983      Member of the Académie Stéphane Mallarmé.
1983      Appointed “Officier des Arts et des Lettres” by the Ministry of
              Culture, Paris.
1984      Exhibit at the “Maison de la Poésie”, Paris, and four readings
              Followed by talks and comments by other poets and    
               philosophers.
1984       Médaille Picasso, Accorded by  UNESCO
1986      Guest of Honour, Pen Club Week, New York.
1986       Grand Prix des Biennales Internationales de la Poesie de Liège,
              Brussels
1990       Member of Académie Universelle des Cultures, Paris.
1991      Prix Jean-Marlieu-Etranger, Marseille.
1993      Feronia-Cita di Fiamo Priwe, Rome.
1994       Nazim Hikmet Prize, Istanbul.
1995      Prix Méditerranée-Etranger, Paris.
1995       Prize of Lebanese Cultural Forum in France.
1997      Poetry Prize of Struga, Macedonia.
1999      Poetry Prize of Nonino, Italy.
2000      Prix Alain Bosquet, Paris.
2001      Prix Goethe. Germany
2004      Grade of Docteur Honoris Causa, from the Université de Genève.
2006     Medal of the Italian Cabinet
             Awarded by the International Scientific Committee of the Manzu Centre.
2006      Prize of  “ Pio Manzu – Centro Internazionale Recherche. “
2007      Grade of Docteur Honoris Causa, from the American University of Beirut.
2007      The Bjornson Prize – Norway
2008       Premio Grinzane Cavour per la Lettura . Italy.
2008      Prize  Max Jacob  for Poetry -  France
2008      Prize Giovanni Pascoli – San Mauro - Italy

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1- Poetry

1957      Qasâ’id Ûla, Beirut.
1958       Awrâk Fî l-Rîh, Beirut.
1961       Aghâni Mihiâr al-Dimashqî, Beirut.
1965        Kitâb al-Tahawwulât wal-Hijra fî Aqâlîm al-Nahâr
                wal-Layl, Beirut.
1968        Al-Masrah wal-Marâya, Beirut.
1970        Waqt Bayna l-Ramâd wal-Ward
1977        Mufrad bi-Sighat al-Jam’ , Beirut.
1980        Kitâb al-Qasâ’id al-Khams, Beirut.
1985        Kitâb al-Hisâr, Beirut.
1987        Shahwa Tataqaddam fî Kharâ’it al-Mâdda, Casablanca.
1988        Ihtifâ’an bil-Ashyâ’ al-Wadihat al-Ghâmida, Beirut.
1994        Abjadiya Thânia, Casablanca.
1995        Al-Kitâb, vol. 1, Beirut.
1998        Al-Kitâb, vol. 2, Beirut
1998        Fahras li-A’mâl al-Rîh, Beirut.
2002        Al-Kitâb, vol. 3, Beirut.
2003        Awwal al-Jassad, Âkhir al-Bahr
2003        Tanabba’ Ayyuha’l ‘A’mâ.
2006        Tãriikh Yatamazzaq fii Jassad Imra`a
2007        Warraaq Yabii` Kutub al-Noujoum
2007        Ihda` Hamlet, Tanachchaq Junoun Ophelia.

2-     Essays

1971        Muqaddima lil-Shi’r al-Arabî, Beirut. 
1972        Zaman al-Shi’r, Beirut.
1974        AL-Thâbit wal-Mutahawwil, vol. 1, Beirut.
1977        AL-Thâbit wal-Mutahawwil,  vol. 2, Beirut.
1978        AL-Thâbit wal-Mutahawwil, vol. 3, Beirut.
1980        Fâtiha li-Nihâyât al-Qarn, Beirut.
1985        Al-Shi’ryyat al-Arabyya, Beirut.
1985         Syasat al-Shi’r,Beirut.
1992        Al-Sûfiyya wal-Sureâliyya, London.
1993        Hâ Anta Ayyuha l-Waqt, Beirut.
1993        Al-Nizâm wal-Kalâm, Beirut.
1993        Al-Nass al-Qur’âni wa Âfâq al-Kitâba, Beirut.
2002        Mûsiqa al-Hût al-Azraq, Beirut.
2004        Al-Muheet al-Aswad,  Beirut.
      2008       Ra`s Al-Lughah, Jism Al-Sahra`, Beirut
      2008       Al-Kitab  Al-khitab  Al-Hijab, Beirut

3- Anthologies

1963       Mukhtârât min Shi’r Yûsuf al-Khâl, Beirut.
1967       Mukhtârât min Shi’r al-Sayyâb, Beirut.
1964-1968 Diwân al-Shi’r al-‘Arabî, Beyrut. (3 Volumes).

4-  Translations

             From French into Arabic:

1972-75    Georges Schehadé, Théâtre Complet, 6 vol. , Beirut.
1972-75     Jean Racine, La Thébaïde, Phèdre, Beirut.
1976-78     Saint-John Perse, Eloges, La Gloire des Rois, Anabase, Exils,  Neiges,  
                  Poèmes à l’étrangère, Amers, 2 vol. , Damascus.
1987          Yves Bonnefoye, Collected Poems, Damascus.
2002          Ovide,  Métamorphosis, Abu Dhabi, Cultural Foundation.

         From Arabic into French :

1988        Abu l-Alâ’ al-Ma’arrî, Rets d’éternité (excerpts from the Luzûmiyyât)
                in collaboration with Anne Wade Minkowski, ed . Fayard, Paris.
1998        Khalil Gibran,  Le Livre des Processions, in collaboration with
                 Anne Wade Minkowski, éd. Arfuyen, Paris.

 

5-      Translations of Adonis available in French :

Poetry

1982          Le Livre de la Migration, éd. Luneau Ascot, translated by martine
                  Faideau, préface by Salah Stétié.
1983         Chants de Mihyar le Damascène, éd. Sindbad,  translated by Anne
                 Wade Minkowsky, préface by Eugène Guillevic. Reprinted in 1995,
                 Sindbad-Actes Sud.
1984         Les Résonances Les Origines, translated by Chawki Abdelamir and
                 Serge Sautreau, éd. Nulle Part.
1984         Ismaël, translated by Chawki Abdelamir and Serge Sautreau, éd. Nulle
                 Part.
1986         Tombeau pour New York, Suivi de Prologue à l’Histoire des Rois des
                 Ta’ifa et de Ceci Est Mon Nom, ed. Sindbad ? translated by Anne W.
                  Minkowsky. Reprinted in 1999, by éd. Sindbad/Actes Sud.
1989          Cheminement du Désir Dans la Géographie de la Matière, éd. PAP,
                translated by A. W. Minkowski.

1990         Le Temps Les Villes, éd. Mercure de France, translated by Jacques
                 Berque and A. W. Minkowski, in collaboration with the author.
1991         Célébrations, éd. La Différence, translated by A. W. M.
1991         Chronique des Branches, éd. la Différence,  translated by A.W.M.
                 préface by Jacques Lacarrière.
1991         Mémoire du Vent ( anthology), éd. Poésie/Gallimard, translated by C.
                 Abdelamir, Claude Estéban, S. Sautreau, André Velter, A. W. M.
                 and the author, préface by A. Velter. Reprinted in 1994, 97, 99, 2000,
                 03, 05.
1994        La Madâ’a,éd. PAP, Translated by A. W. M.
1994        La Main de la Pierre Dessine le Lieu, éd. PAP, translated by A. W. M.
1994        Soleils Seconds, éd. Mercure de France, translated by Jacques Berque.
1995        Singuliers éd. Sindbad/Actes Sud, translated by Jacques Berque.
                re-édited by éd . Gallimard 2002
1997       Au Sein d’un Alphabet Second ,  2d. Origine, translated by A. W. M.
2003       Toucher La Lumière, éd. Imprimerie Nationale, présentation, Jean Yves
                Masson, translated by A. W. Minkowski.
2004       Commencement Du Corps Fin De L’Océan, éd.  Mercure de France,  
                translated by Vénus Khoury-Ghata.
2004        Alep, in collaboration with the artist photographer Carlos Freire,
                éd. Imprimerie Nationale, translated by Renée Herbouze, 
2007        Le Livre I – Al Kitâb I, edit. du Seuil, Traduit par Houriyya Abdel-
                Wahed.
2008        Histoire qui se déchire sur le corps d’une femme. Ed. Mercure de France
                 Traduit par Houriyya Abdel-Wahed.

Essays

1985        Introduction à la Poétique Arabe, éd; Shndbad, forword by Yves
                 Bonnefoy, translated by Bassam Tahhan and A.W. M.
1993         La Prière et l’Epée (essays on arab culture), éd. Mercure de France,
                intoduction by A. W. M., édited by Jean-Yves Masson, translated by
                Layla Khatîb and A. W. M.
2001        Amitié, Temps et Lumière, co-author Dimitri Analis, éd. Obsidiane.
2004        Identité Inachevée, in collaboration with Chantal Chawwaf,éd. du
                Rocher.
2006        Conversation avec Adonis, mon père, co-author Ninar Esber éd. Seuil.

 

6-            A great number of translations have been published in other languages,
               including  English, Italian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Norvegian, Persian,
               Spanish, Swedish, polish, Macedonian, Turkish, Portuguaise, Chinese,
               and Indonesian.  

 

               Available in English:
1990            An Introduction to Arab Poetics, (essay) Saqi Books, London, translated 
                    By Catherine Cobham.
1992            Atif Y. Faddul, The Poetics of T. S. Eliot and Adunis, a comparative
                    study, Alhamra Publishers.
1994            The Pages of Day and Night, The Marlboro Press, Marlboro Vermont,
                     translated by Samuel Hazo.
2003             If Only the Sea Could Sleep, éd. Green Integer 77, translated by Kamal             
                   Bullata, Susan Einbinder and Mirène Ghossein.
2004           A Time Between Ashes and Roses, Poems, With a forward of Nasser
                   Rabbat, ed. Syracuse University Press, translation, critical Arabic edition
                   by Shawkat M. Toorawa.
2005           Sufism and Surrealism, (essay) edit. by Saqi Books, translated by Judith
                   Cumberbatch.
2008           Mihyar of Damascus: His Songs. Translated by Adnan Haydar and
                   Michael Beard - USA
 

7-        Critical studies and appreciations in French:

1991           N° 16 of the review “Détours d’Ecriture” , Paris.
1991           N° 96 of the review  “Sud”, Marseille.
1995           N° 8 of the review “L’Oeil du Boeuf”, Paris.
1996           May issue of the review “Esprit”, Paris.
1998           N° 2 of the review “Autre Sud” Marseille.
1998           N° 28 of the review “Pleine Marge”, Paris.
2000           Michel Camus, Adonis le Visionnaire, éd. Du Rocher.

 

Some 19  Arabic books and great number of Academic dissertations on Adonis poetry are available.

 

ART  EXHIBITIONS

2000          Berlin - Institute for Advanced Studies
2000          Paris -  L`Institut du Monde  Arabe
2003          Paris – Area  Gallery
2007          Amman – Shuman`s Gallery    ( co-exhibition With Haydar )
2008          Damascus – Atassy Gallery , exh. For 4  Poets-Painters (with works of
                  Fateh Mudarress , Etel Adnan, Samir Sayegh)
2008          Paris – Le Louvre des Antiquaires : Calligraphies d`Orient. (Collectif)