Barghouti was born inDeir Ghassana, near Ramallah, on theWest Bank, in 8 July 1944.[2] He studied English literature atCairo University, graduating in 1967,[3] though he was exiled from Egypt in 1977.[4][5]
TheOslo Accords finally allowed Barghouti to return to theWest Bank, and in 1996 he returned toRamallah after 30 years of exile.[2][6] This event inspired his autobiographical novelRa'aytu Ram Allah (I Saw Ramallah), published by Dar Al Hilal (Cairo, 1997), which won him theNaguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in the same year.[7] A follow-up,I Was Born There, I Was Born Here was written when he and his son, Tamim, made a visit to the city.[8] Mourid is also widely respected and known for his beautiful poetry, such as his long poem inMidnight and Other Poems, and has among other awards received the Palestine Award for Poetry, in 2020.[9]
In an interview withMaya Jaggi inThe Guardian, Barghouti was quoted as saying: "I learn from trees. Just as many fruits drop before they're ripe, when I write a poem I treat it with healthy cruelty, deleting images to take care of the right ones."[5]
A Small Sun, Poems translated by Radwa Ashour and W. S. Merwin, Aldeburgh Poetry Trust, 2003 paperback, Suffolk, UK,ISBN0-9535422-2-X
Contributor toA New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West.ISBN9781909942288
Spanish translations:
Medianoche (poetry), translated by Luis Miguel Canada, published by Fundacion Antonio Perez. UCLM, Cuenca, Spain, 2006,ISBN84-8427-494-2 andISBN978-84-8427-494-0
He visto Ramala, translated by Iñaki Gutierrez de Teran, published by Ediciones del oriente y del mediterraneo, Guadarrama, Spain, 2002,ISBN84-87198-83-X andISBN978-84-87198-83-0
