Abbas Beydoun was born in the village of Sur near Tyre in southern Lebanon in 1945. He studied Arabic Literature at the Lebanese University in Beirut, later receiving a Masters in Literature at the Sorbonne in Paris. He was involved in left-wing politics and was imprisoned for a time as a young man. A poet, novelist and journalist, he has published numerous volumes of poetry, some of which have been translated into a number of European languages, including a Selected Poems in Italian, a volume in German, several books including his epic work Tyre in French, and a volume of essays. English translations of his poetry have appeared in several issues of Banipal magazine and his novel Tahlil damm (2002) was translated by Max Weiss and published under the title Blood Test (Syracuse University Press, 2008), winning the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award. He has been cultural editor of the Beiruti newspaper As-Safir since 1997.