Mikhail Naimy was born in Baskinta, in central Lebanon. He was educated in Russia and obtained degrees in Liberal Arts and Law at the University of Washington, USA. In 1916 he moved to New York where, together with his close friend, Kahlil Gibran, he founded a dynamic movement for the rejuvenation of Arabic literature. He wrote The Book of Mirdad on his return to Lebanon after World War II. He has been described as one of the greatest spiritual writers of the 20th century. He died in 1988.