Gibran, a product of Lebanon and the United States, was a bridge between the East and the West—a universal author who inspired millions.
Kahlil Gibran is a Lebanese-American writer, poet and artist. He was born on 6 January 1883 to a Maronite family in Bisharri in northern Lebanon. He lived in Lebanon until the age of 12.
In 1895, he migrated to the United States with his mother; his younger sisters, Mariana and Sultana; and his elder half-brother, Butrus. The Gibrans settled in Boston's South End, at the time the second-largest Lebanese-American community in 
the United States. His mother began working as a seamstress peddler, selling lace and linens. Gibran started school on 30 September 1895. School officials placed him in a special class for immigrants to learn English. Gibran also enrolled in an art school at a nearby settlement house. He developed a keen interest in literature and showed a flair for drawing and painting during his school years.
Gibran's mother, along with Butrus, wanted Gibran to absorb more of his own heritage, rather than just the Western aesthetic culture to which he was attracted. Thus, at the age of 15, Gibran returned to Lebanon to study at Al-Hikma, a Maronite-run preparatory school and higher-education institute in Beirut. He started a student literary magazine with a classmate and was elected as "college poet.” He stayed in Lebanon for several years before returning to Boston in 1902. Two weeks before he got back, his sister Sultana died of tuberculosis at the age of 14. The next year, Butrus died of the same disease, and his mother died of cancer. Gibran’s sister Marianna supported him and herself by working at a dressmaker’s shop.
Gibran held his first art exhibition of his drawings in 1904 in Boston, at Day's studio. During this exhibition, Gibran met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, a respected headmistress ten years his senior. The two formed an important friendship that lasted the rest of Gibran’s life. Though publicly discreet, their correspondence reveals an exalted intimacy. Haskell influenced not only Gibran’s personal life, but also his career. She became Gibran’s confidante, patron and benefactor.
As yet not completely fluent in English, Gibran began writing in Arabic. His first book,Al-Musiqah(Music) was published in 1905. He continued to write in Arabic and published:Ara’is al-Muruj(Nymphs of the Valley), in which he was critical of the relationship between church and state, and advocated for their separation. He then publishedAl-Arwah al Mutamarridah(Spirits Rebellious) in 1908, which confirmed his burgeoning reputation as a rebel.
Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Haskell, in 1908, Gibran went to study art in Paris for two years. While there, he met his art study partner and lifelong friend Youssef Huwayyik, and then returned to Boston in 1910.
On the advice of his friend and fellow Lebanese emigre writer Ameen Rihani, Gibran moved to New York in 1912. He continued writing and publishing in Arabic until 1918. In 1918, Gibran published his first book in English,The Madman. The Madman,a slim volume of aphorisms and parables written in biblical cadence somewhere between poetry and prose. Gibran became the leading member of the Pen League in the New York, also known as the “The League of the Immigrant Writers” (Oudaba’ Al-Mahjar), alongside important Lebanese-American authors such as Rihani, Elia Abu Madi and Mikhail Naimy. These Lebanese-American authors became the progenitors of the Arab intellectual Renaissance.
In 1923, Gibran publishedThe Prophet,which many believe was influenced by Christianity, especially on the topic of spiritual love, and also by his mysticism that is the result of a convergence of several different influences: Christianity, Islam, Sufism, Hinduism and theosophy.
The Prophetis composed of 26 poetic essays; its success was unprecedented. The work won Gibran universal recognition, becoming extremely popular in the 1960s counterculture. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu. Since its first publication in 1923,The Prophethas never been out of print.The Prophetis translated into more than 40 languages, and was one of the bestselling books of the 20th century in the United States.
Gibran’s health started deteriorating, yet he continued to write and publish in English. He publishedSand and Foamin 1926,Jesus, Son of Manin 1928, andThe Earth Godsin 1931.
Gibran died at the age of 48 in New York City on 10 April 1931. Before his death, Gibran expressed the wish that he be buried in Lebanon. This wish was fulfilled in 1932, when Mary Haskell and his sister Mariana purchased the Mar Sarkis Monastery in Lebanon, which has since become the Gibran Museum.
