A Personal Anthology
Venus Khoury-Ghata’s work draws heavily on French and Lebanese culture. It is from their fusion that the unique charm of her poetry emerges. Although she chooses to write in French, Arabic rhythms and tropes are fully present and palpable in her work. Family ghosts and haunting themes of death, femininity, immigration, and cultural conflict inhabit her writing with astonishing metaphorical richness, imbued with the imagination, expressive devices, and flavor of the Arabic language and poetry. The experience of hopelessness and loss provides the central motifs in her poems: expressive and dark images of surreal alienation.
For her “Personal Anthology,” compiled by herself, she was awarded the “Jules Supervielle” Prize in 1997. The anthology includes unpublished poems (1995–1996) and a selection from several poetry collections: “Tales of a Clay People” (1992), “Monologue of the Dead” (1987), “The Stumbling Sun” (1982), “Shadows and Their Cries” (1979), “Who Speaks for the Jasmine” (1980), and “The Compassion of Stones” (2001).
To the reader’s delight, Venus Khoury-Ghata approaches even death without intrusive drama. From suffering and compassion, she draws art of the highest caliber. Her poetry, imbued with humanity, brings solace in times of spiritual emptiness and restores hope in the priestly role of the poet.
Vénus Khoury-Ghata
Venus Khoury-Ghata (1937–2026) was a French-Lebanese writer, arguably the most famous and recognizable author of Lebanese origin in French-language literature. Born in 1937 in Bichaya, Khoury-Ghata spent her childhood in the mountain village of Bisharri in northern Lebanon, the birthplace of Khalil Gibran. She grew up in Beirut and moved to Paris in 1972, where she lived until her death in January 2026.
She left behind more than twenty novels and some thirty poetry collections. She was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Grand Prize for Poetry from the French Academy (2009) and the Goncourt Prize for Poetry for her entire body of work (2011). She was awarded the title of Commander of the Legion of Honor (2017) and Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (2022). As a translator, she gave voice to the great contemporary Syrian poet Adonis.
