Maalouf, Amin

The Lebanese-born author Amin Maalouf was born in Beirut. He is the second of four children. His family history is complex and cosmopolitan. Maalouf claims that his Christian background makes him feel uncomfortable in the Arab world, and yet several members of his family have been successful and far from marginalised. An ancestor translated Molière into Arabic, he is related to the Australian novelist David Malouf and to the Brazilian poet Fawzi Maalouf, the "Arab Rimbaud".