Birth: NULL/NULL/1951 Death:NULL/NULL/2003
Born in Deir Ghassoun near Tulkarem in 1951; received a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Jordan in 1974 and an MA in Literature from South Dakota State University, USA, in 1982; returned to the West Bank and became lecturer of English Literature at Birzeit University; was one of the leaders of civil disobedience during the first Intifada (1987-1992) and was imprisoned for his political activity from Feb. 1989-May 1991; his son Rami was shot and killed at the age of 16 by Israeli soldiers in the courtyard of his school in Al-Bireh in Nov. 1993 (the incident left a deep mark on Al-Ghazzawi’s life and writings); received the International Prize for Freedom of Expression in Stavanger, Norway, in 1994; was elected Pres. of the Palestinian Writers’ Union in 1995; worked as a weekly columnist for Al-Ayyam newspaper in Ramallah since 1995; received the Sacharow-Prize, awarded by the European Parliament, in 2001; in 2002, gave a series of poetry lecturers, together with his Israeli counterpart Amos Oz, at the University of Tübingen, Germany; translator and author of numerous books, incl. Letters Underway (1989), Nebo Mountain (1995), The Edges (1993), Abdullah At-Tilali (1997), and Footsteps (2001); has co-edited several English-language anthologies of Palestinian authors, incl. Modern Palestinian Poetry in Translation (1997), Modern Palestinian Short Stories in Translation (1998), Innovation in Palestinian Literature: Testimonies of Palestinian Poets and Writers (2000); died in Ramallah on 4 April 2003.
