Translated into more than 40 languages and with estimated sales of 100 million, Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet is one of the most internationally renowned and adored books of all time. Despite first being published in 1923, this series of philosophical poems from one of Lebanon's most treasured sons is still prominent on many bestseller lists, and some estimates put international sales at a healthy 5,000 per week.
Next year, interest in the book is expected to spike when the Salma Hayek-produced and Doha Film Institute-funded animated adaptation of The Prophet is due to be released. But despite the book’s ongoing success establishing Gibran as the third best-selling poet of all time – behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu – little is known about the man behind the prose. Thankfully, this could change if the biopic set to go into production in 2014 ever hits movie screens.
