Francois Basili

Francois Basili is an Egyptian American poet and writer whose mother tongue is Arabic. He learned English in schools in Egypt before immigrating to the United States.

Born a few miles from the bank of the river Nile in Cairo, he grew up to love this sacred river and sees it as the link between Egypt’s glorious past and eternity. He immigrated to the United States in the seventies and lives with his wife Suad, a Palestinian American, in New Jersey. They have three sons, James, Thomas, and John, and a granddaughter, Anya.

Basili’s first collection of Arabic poems, titled Tahleelat Isis (meaning The Hymns of Isis), was published in 1998 by the well-known Egyptian publishing house Maktabat Madbouli. Three other books of poetry followed: Sun of Cairo, Snows of New York (2014), The King’s Last Night in Shaherzad’s Bed (2017), and The Agony of the Lotus (2018) by The Egyptian Public Agency of Books.

His Arabic poems have also appeared in the Arab world’s foremost literary publications, including Al Hilal, Akhbar Al Adab, Al-Ahram, Ibdaa, Al Adab, Mawaqef, Al Quds Al Arabi, and many online Arab-language literary magazines.

Basili’s poems, in both Arabic and English, reflect the inherent sadness of leaving one’s beloved homeland and mother tongue to live in a spiritual exile. His poems often mix the image of his homeland with that of a mysterious woman: a lover, a mistress, a sister, a mother, or an ancient mythological figure like the Goddess Isis.