Chekri Ganem

Chekri Ganem
Native name	شكري ابن إبراهيم غانم
Born	(1861-09-14)14 September 1861 Beirut, Ottoman Empire
Died	3 May 1929(1929-05-03) (aged 67) Antibes, France
Occupation	Novelist poet playwright journalist political activist
Notable works	Ronces et Fleurs Antar Daad La Giaour
Spouse	Anaïs-Marie Couturier
Relatives	Halil Ganem (brother)
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Chekri Ganem (also spelled Chekri Ghanem or Shukri Ghanim; Arabic: شكري ابن إبراهيم غانم / ALA-LC: Shukrī ibn Ibrāhīm Ghānim; 1861 – 3 May 1929) was a Lebanese intellectual, writer, playwright, poet, and journalist. He traveled extensively, and finally settled in France in 1895. In Paris, he became a dynamic political activist and leader in the Syro-Lebanese diaspora. He founded the Société des Amis de l'Orient (Society of Friends of the Orient) in 1908 and the Lebanese Committee of Paris in 1912. He also played a significant role in the Arab Congress of 1913, where he was elected Vice President. Ganem was a proponent of Lebanon's independence from the Ottoman Empire. He is considered the founding father of Francophone Lebanese literature, and his literary work was overtly political, becoming most manifest in his poetry collection Ronces et Fleurs (Brambles and Flowers). His masterpiece, Antar, was a widely-acclaimed theatrical fantasy, and an open manifesto of Arab nationalism. Ganem was named Commander of the Legion of Honor shortly before his death in 1929.