Adnan, Etel (1925–)
Adnan, Etel (1925–)
Lebanese poet and painter. Name variations: Etel 'Adnan. Born 1925 in Beirut, Lebanon; father was a Muslim; mother was a Christian Greek; studied philosophy at Sorbonne, University of California at Berkeley, and Harvard; moved to US, 1955.
Taught French literature at the Ahliga School for Girls for 3 years; moved to Paris to study philosophy (1950); taught philosophy at Dominican College of San Rafael, CA (1959–72); while protesting Vietnam War, wrote political poetry in both French and English; returned to Beirut for a brief editorial stint at French Lebanese paper L'Orient-le Jour (1972); left Beirut after outbreak of war and lived in US and France; works include Moonshots (1966), Five Senses for One Death (1971), Jebu et l'Express Beyrouth-Enfer (1973), Pablo Neruda is a Banana Tree (1982), The Indian Never Had a Horse and Other Poems (1985), The Arab Apocalypse (1989), Paris When It's Naked (1993), Of Cities and Women: Letters to Fawwaz (1993), To Write in a Foreign Language (1996), and Sitt Marie Rose: A Novel (1997).