In April 2014, the Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace at the University of Maryland announced an ambitious international research project: the world's first comprehensive multilingual bibliography of works published by and about Kahlil Gibran. We republish the original announcement here as a record of a landmark moment in Gibran scholarship — and in memory of the man who made it possible.
Kahlil Gibran Collective · Originally published 3 April 2014
The Prophet in translation — editions from across the globe, a testament to Gibran's universal reach.
In April 2014, the Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace at the University of Maryland made an announcement that had long been awaited by Gibran scholars around the world: the creation of an international research project to compile the first ever comprehensive bibliography of works published by or about Gibran across all languages.
The project was conceived under the directorship of Professor Suheil Badi Bushrui (1929–2015) — widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on the life and works of Kahlil Gibran, and the founding president of the International Association for the Study of the Life and Works of Kahlil Gibran. Under his stewardship, the Chair had established itself as the most reliable academic institution in the field of Gibran scholarship, and this bibliography was envisioned as its most enduring contribution: a scholarly foundation on which future generations of researchers could build.
Language editors from around the world were to be appointed to contribute to the project, which was expected to take three years to complete. It was an undertaking proportionate to the scale of Gibran's global reach — a poet whose work has been translated into more than fifty languages and whose readership spans every continent.
The following is the original press release as issued by the Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace, University of Maryland, 3 April 2014.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
By the Kahlil Gibran International Forum and News
Written by Glen Kalem
The Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace announced today the creation of an international research project to compile a comprehensive bibliography of the work published by or on Gibran in different languages.
The Chair has universally established itself as the most reliable academic institution regarding the scholarship of Kahlil Gibran through the creation of the International Association for the Study of the Life and Works of Kahlil Gibran.
A detailed description of this project will soon be published and language editors throughout the world will be appointed to build a solid foundation for a scholarly and reliable bibliography in the next three years.
Professor Bushrui passed away on 2 September 2015, at the age of eighty-five. His decades of scholarship — and his vision for the bibliography project — remain a guiding light for all who study Gibran's life and legacy. The George and Lisa Zakhem Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace continues his work at the University of Maryland. More information about the Chair can be found at gibranchair.umd.edu.
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