Biography
Etel Adnan is a poet, essayist, and visual artist who was born in Beirut, Lebanon to a Greek Christian mother and a Syrian Muslim father. Adnan spoke Greek and Arabic with her parents, and French became her primary language when she started school. Adnan studied and taught philosophy, and began writing in French, later shifting to English as she wrote poetry in response to the Vietnam War. In 2010 Adnan received the “Life-time Achievement Award” from RAWI (Radius of Arab-American Writers), and the Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland. Adnan’s poetry incorporates surrealist imagery, metaphor, and formal experimentation to address the nature of exile and political, social, and gender-based injustice. Her creativity and talents don’t seem to be limited by form as Adnan is also a celebrated painter, sculptor, and weaver whose art has been exhibited internationally.