PALEWELL PRESS

Bilal Al Masri was born in Tripoli, Lebanon in 1974. He is one of Lebanon's foremost living poets - a self-taught person, active in the Lebanese literary community and known throughout the Arab world. He has published four poetry collections, including Crushing His Head with the Stone of Memory, part of Ishraqat – a series on Arab Poetic Voices that is being curated by the iconic Syrian poet, Adonis. He has also had selected poetry translated into French in 2023 and written three novels and two plays as well as children’s stories, which were translated into English in Canada. Selected poems have appeared in six anthologies, including in English and Polish.

Bilal's latest collection is Because of You. This will be the first time of full collection of his work is available in English. The poems were translated by Dr Mohamad Haj Mohamad and Dr Anba Jawi.

He has received four different awards including the “Zheng Nian cup” national prize in China in 2023.

Bilal is married to Sonia Essa (of Palestinian heritage) and they have two children together, Waheeb, aged twelve, and Ghazle, aged ten.