The Madman

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 in the north of Lebanon into a disadvantaged Maronite Christian family. Despite his challenging early childhood, Gibran rose to the level of world renowned author after his mother and siblings emigrated 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 well-to-do headmistress, were influential and supportive figures from early on in his career. Gibran wrote many acclaimed works in both Arabic and English. 'The Madman', published in 1918, was the first book he wrote in English while his 1923 work, 'The Prophet', is notably Gibran's best-selling book.