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| أديبة وإعلامية مهجرية تعيش في سيدني |
Charbel Baini was born in Mejdlaya, in the North of Lebanon.
Migrated to Australia in 1971.
He is a multi-talented writer whose works encompass poetry, plays, short stories, text books and journalistic articles.
His first book of poetry, Murahiqa (The Adolescent), was published in Lebanon in 1968 when he was seventeen.
Since his arrival to Australia, he has written and published several books of Arabic poetry, plays and short fiction. Some of his books have been translated into English, Spanish, French.
He has also written six plays which reflect an expatriate’s love and concern for his homeland and the continuing suffering which is tearing it apart.
He is currently working as an Arabic language teacher and devotes most of his time to his writings.
He is a regular contributor to Arabic newspapers published in Sydney.
Charbel’s poetry has won him many prizes including the prestigious Khalil Gibran’s International Award in 1987.
My firs image memory of Charbel Baini is When the Voice of Arabic women contacted him to take part in the memorial ceremony organised to pay tribute to Louis El- Hage editor in chief of the most prominent newspaper in Lebanon, An-Nahar, who died after 45 years of services. Charbel’s enthusiasm and dedication enlightened my appreciation towards this kind of incomparable touch of pure childishness that most of us lose in the process of growing. Charbel Baini, indeed, kept the child intact in him. His verses in “Rubaiyat” simply speak for him:
“O God, I wish to be another man
Than I am now and have great love to start;
To look about me on the troubled road
And feed the hungry as though from my heart.”
To Charbel Baini from “The seeds of harvest”: “The adventure is not on the surface of the earth but in the depth of inner self. If you discover it you discover the truth that deserves the adventure”.
Charbel Baini with his poem entitled: Mother Teresa.
Sydney 23/10/2000
