John Asfour

John Asfour () was a Lebanese–Canadian poet, writer, and teacher. At the age of 13, a grenade exploded in his face, blinding him during the Lebanese crisis of 1958.

After multiple unsuccessful attempts to restore his sight, he moved to Canada in 1968. After receiving his PhD in poetry from McGill University, he spent his career as a professor of literature and resided in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

He was the author of 5 volumes of poetry in English, and two in Arabic, he selected, edited and translated into English the landmark anthology ''When the Words Burn: An Anthology of Modern Arabic Poetry'' and co-authored with his wife and fellow author Alison Burch a volume of selected poems by Muhammad al-Maghut entitled ''Joy is not my Profession''. Asfour was known for his readings and lectures, which were entirely memorized due to his lack of sight.

Asfour was President of the Canadian Arab Federation from 1996 to 2002, and spoke out against revisions to the anti-terrorism bill C-36 after the September 11 attacks. In 2005 and 2007, he organized and held two conferences on Arab Immigrants, their rights and duties for the Ministry of Immigration of Quebec. Provided by Wikipedia