1883-1931. Khalil Gibran, writer, philosopher and, by all accounts, the third most popular poet in history after Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu, was born in the town of Bsharri, north Lebanon, into a disadvantaged Maronite Christian family. Despite his challenging early childhood, Gibran rose to the level of world renowned author after his mother emigrated with him and his siblings to Boston in America when he was twelve years old. The likes of Fred Holland Day, a pioneering artist, photographer and publisher and Mary Elizabeth Haskell, a headmistress from a wealthy family, were influential and supportive figures from early on in his career. Gibran was influenced by his own religion as well as by the mysticism of the Sufis, the eastern religions and, in particular, by the Bahá'í Faith, a doctrine that stresses the spiritual unity of all mankind and recognises we were all created by the same God. His acclaimed oeuvre included works in both Arabic and English. "The Madman", published in 1918, was the first book to be written by him in English while his 1923 work, "The Prophet", was translated into more than twenty different languages and remains a best-seller today.
