Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish dead at 67

Mahmoud Darwish, the world’s most recognised Palestinian poet, whose prose gave voice to the Palestinian experience of exile and infighting, died today in Houston, Texas. He was 67.

The predominant Palestinian poet, whose work has been translated into more than 20 languages and won numerous international awards, died following open heart surgery at a Houston hospital, said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.