Author Guide · Poetry · Parables · Prose poems
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In 1923 Alfred A. Knopf printed 2,000 copies of a slim book of prose poems by a Lebanese-born painter who lived in a studio on West Tenth Street in New York; 1,159 sold that year. The Prophet has never been out of print since, has been translated into more than 100 languages and passed ten million copies in the American edition alone. Kahlil Gibran was born in 1883 in Bsharri, in Ottoman-ruled Mount Lebanon, came to Boston as a boy of twelve, and wrote first in Arabic, where he became one of the leading voices of the Arab writers in America, and then in English. He died in New York in 1931, at forty-eight. This guide covers his 13 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 13 key books · 1906–1933 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Kahlil Gibran wrote in two languages. His key Arabic books are The Broken Wings (al-Ajniha al-Mutakassira, 1912), A Tear and a Smile (1914) and the long poem The Processions (al-Mawakib, 1919); in English, The Madman (1918), The Prophet (1923), Sand and Foam (1926) and Jesus, the Son of Man (1928). Start with The Prophet: 26 short prose poems on love, marriage, children, work and death, and the book the rest of his English work circles around.
Where to Start with Kahlil Gibran
If you want his defining book
→ The Prophet (1923) — 26 short prose poems, readable in an evening.
If you want a story
→ The Broken Wings (1912) — his short Arabic novel of a forbidden love in Beirut.
If you like parables and aphorisms
→ The Madman (1918) — his first book in English.
If you want his longest book
→ Jesus, the Son of Man (1928) — the life of Jesus told by 78 witnesses.
13 Kahlil Gibran Books, in Order
Nymphs of the Valley
Three short stories, first published in 1906 by the Arabic newspaper al-Muhajir in New York under the title ‘Ara’is al-Muruj (also translated as Brides of the Meadows). One is a tale of reincarnation set in ancient Baalbek; one follows Martha, an orphan who is abducted, abused and cast out, and whom the priests refuse to bury in consecrated ground; the third, “Yuhanna the Madman”, is about a cowherd arrested for preaching against the monks.
Spirits Rebellious
Published in New York in 1908 as al-Arwah al-Mutamarrida, these stories attack the power of landlords, forced marriage and the clergy. They include “Madame Rose Hanie”, about a woman who leaves the rich husband she was married to without love, and “Khalil the Heretic”. The book was reportedly burned in Beirut, and the Ottoman authorities banned his anti-clerical writings.
The Broken Wings
A short poetic novel, al-Ajniha al-Mutakassira, published in New York in 1912. In Beirut at the turn of the century a young narrator falls in love with Selma Karamy, whose father arranges her marriage to Mansour Bey, the greedy nephew of a bishop; the lovers meet in secret once a month, and Selma dies with her child after giving birth in the fifth year of the marriage. It was filmed in Lebanon in 1962 and made into a stage musical in London in 2018.
A Tear and a Smile
Dam’a wa-Ibtisama: 56 short pieces, most of them prose poems of a page or two, first written as newspaper columns and collected in 1914 by Nasib Arida, editor of the New York magazine al-Funun. The subjects are love, beauty, nature, exile and homecoming; the collection includes “The Voice of the Poet”.
The Madman
His first book in English, published by Knopf in 1918. Many of the pieces were first written in Arabic and translated by Gibran himself, with Mary Haskell’s editing. It opens with a narrator who becomes a “madman” when thieves steal his masks, and continues with short, often sardonic parables such as “The Two Cages” and “The Three Ants”.
The Processions
al-Mawakib, a long poem published in New York in March 1919 at his own expense, and the only work he wrote in traditional rhyme and metre. Two voices, one worldly and philosophical, one from the woods, meet at the edge of a forest outside the city and argue about good and evil, happiness, religion and death; each section ends with the refrain “Give me the nay and sing”, the nay being a reed flute. Passages of it were later sung by Fairuz.
The Forerunner
His second English book with Knopf, published in 1920 in the same form as The Madman: short parables and poems told by an unnamed narrator. An Arabic translation, al-Sabiq, appeared in Cairo in 1924.
The Prophet
Almustafa has lived for twelve years in the city of Orphalese when the ship that will take him home comes into the harbour. Before he leaves, the people gather at the temple and ask him to speak, and in 26 prose poems he talks about love, marriage, children, giving, work, joy and sorrow, freedom, friendship, prayer and death. Knopf’s first printing of 2,000 copies sold slowly and critics were cool, but sales doubled year after year; the millionth copy sold in 1957, and the book took off again in the 1960s counterculture. It was adapted as an animated film in 2014.
Sand and Foam
About 300 aphorisms and short sayings, from two lines to a dozen, published by Knopf in 1926 with his own drawings; some scholars read it as material left over from The Prophet. John Lennon took a line from it for the Beatles song “Julia”.
Jesus, the Son of Man
His longest book, written in 1926–1927 and published by Knopf in 1928. Jesus is never heard directly: 78 people who knew him, some historical and some invented, some devoted and some hostile, give their accounts, among them Pontius Pilate, Barabbas and a merchant who reads the parable of the talents as a lesson in trade.
The Earth Gods
A dialogue between three gods, published by Knopf in 1931, the year he died. The first god is weary of the world, the second sees in humanity a chance of transcendence, and the third reconciles the two. Gibran first described it to Mary Haskell in 1915 and had largely finished it by 1916.
The Wanderer
Fifty short parables, published by Knopf in 1932, a year after his death. The narrator meets a wanderer at a crossroads, who tells the stories. Gibran sent the manuscript to Mary Haskell in March 1931; Barbara Young, his secretary in his last years, later said she had destroyed the copy Haskell edited.
The Garden of the Prophet
The sequel to The Prophet, published in 1933: Almustafa returns to the island of his birth and talks with nine disciples, above all about humanity and nature. Gibran planned a trilogy, but left this book unfinished and wrote only a sentence of the third; Barbara Young completed it after his death.
In What Order to Read Kahlil Gibran
Nothing in Gibran depends on reading another book first, except that The Garden of the Prophet follows on from The Prophet. Publication order shows two careers: the Arabic stories and prose poems of 1906–1919, angry about the clergy, landlords and forced marriage, and the English books from 1918, quieter and closer to scripture and parable. In English translation the Arabic books are sometimes sold in collections, so check what an edition contains.
Most readers start with The Prophet, which takes an evening, then go on to the parables of The Madman and The Wanderer or the sayings of Sand and Foam. For the Arabic Gibran, The Broken Wings is the most readable, and the posthumous books are best read knowing that others finished or edited them.
A reading path
1. The Prophet (1923)
2. The Madman (1918)
3. The Broken Wings (1912)
4. Sand and Foam (1926)
5. Jesus, the Son of Man (1928)
Everything Else Kahlil Gibran Published
Beyond the 13 key books: 9 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other books in Arabic
3
3 books · 1905–1923
- 1905A Profile of the Art of MusicNubdha fi Fann al-Musiqa, his first publication, an essay on music
- 1920The Tempestsal-‘Awasif, stories and essays, published in Cairo
- 1923The New and the Marvellousal-Bada’i’ wa-al-Tara’if, essays, published in Cairo
Other books in English
2
2 books · 1915–1919
- 1915To Albert Pinkham Rydera poem to the American painter, privately printed
- 1919Twenty Drawingsa book of his drawings, published by Knopf
Plays and letters published after his death
4
4 books · 1972–1983
- 1972Beloved Prophethis love letters with Mary Haskell and her private journal, edited by Virginia Hilu
- 1973Lazarus and His Beloveda short play
- 1981The Blinda short play
- 1983The Blue Flamehis letters to the writer May Ziadeh, whom he never met
The years · 1883–1931
Quick facts about Kahlil Gibran
- Known for
- Kahlil Gibran is known above all for The Prophet, one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, and in the Arab world for the Arabic prose poems and stories that made him a leading writer of the Arab diaspora in America.
- 1883
- Born in Bsharri, Mount Lebanon
- 1895
- Emigrates with his family to Boston
- 1911
- Settles in New York
- 1923
- The Prophet
- 1931
- Dies in New York, aged 48
- Born
- 6 January 1883, Bsharri, in the Ottoman Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate; a Maronite Christian family
- Died
- 10 April 1931, St. Vincent’s Hospital, New York, of cirrhosis of the liver, aged 48
- Laid to rest
- Bsharri, at the former Mar Sarkis monastery, now the Gibran Museum
- Languages
- Arabic and English; his Arabic name is Jubran Khalil Jubran
- Studied
- Collège de la Sagesse, Beirut; Académie Julian, Paris, from 1908
- Patron
- Mary Haskell, a Boston headmistress, who supported him and edited all his English books
- Memorial
- Kahlil Gibran Memorial Garden, Washington, D.C., dedicated by President George H. W. Bush on 24 May 1991
The red mark is 1923: The Prophet, published by Knopf in New York.
How Kahlil Gibran Writes: Parable and Prose Poem
Gibran’s English books are written in a deliberately biblical voice: short sections, repetition, address to “you”, and a speaker who answers questions with images rather than arguments. Britannica names the Bible, Nietzsche and William Blake as his main influences, and the parable is his basic form, from the sardonic two-paragraph stories of The Madman to the sermons of The Prophet.
In Arabic he wrote differently. The stories of Nymphs of the Valley and Spirits Rebellious are openly polemical, aimed at the Church, landlords and arranged marriage. With Mikhail Naimy, Ameen Rihani and others he re-founded the Pen League in New York in 1920, the circle of Arab writers in the Americas known as the mahjar poets; the critic Salma Khadra Jayyusi called him the single most important influence on Arabic literature in the first half of the twentieth century.
He was also a painter, trained in Paris, and illustrated most of his English books himself; many of his paintings are now at the Telfair Museums in Savannah. His English was revised with Mary Haskell, who edited all of his English writings in his lifetime, which is one reason the posthumous books, edited by others, are read with more caution.
Frequently asked questions about Kahlil Gibran’s books
How many books has Kahlil Gibran written?
Sixteen books and pamphlets appeared in his lifetime, eight in Arabic and eight in English, and two more books, The Wanderer (1932) and The Garden of the Prophet (1933), soon after his death; plays and letters followed decades later. This page lists 13 key books and nine further works.
What are Kahlil Gibran’s books in order?
Nymphs of the Valley (1906), Spirits Rebellious (1908), The Broken Wings (1912), A Tear and a Smile (1914), The Madman (1918), The Processions (1919), The Forerunner (1920), The Prophet (1923), Sand and Foam (1926), Jesus, the Son of Man (1928), The Earth Gods (1931), The Wanderer (1932) and The Garden of the Prophet (1933). The first four and The Processions were written in Arabic; the English translations came later.
Where should I start with Kahlil Gibran?
With The Prophet (1923): 26 short prose poems that take an evening to read. If you would rather start with a story, read The Broken Wings (1912), his short novel of a forbidden love in Beirut.
What is Kahlil Gibran’s most famous book?
The Prophet. It has never been out of print, has been translated into more than 100 languages, and had sold more than nine million copies in its American edition by 2012.
Did Gibran write in Arabic or English?
Both. His first books, up to The Processions (1919), were in Arabic; from The Madman (1918) he wrote his main books in English. His Arabic name is Jubran Khalil Jubran; the spelling “Kahlil” comes from a registration mistake at his Boston school in 1895, and he kept it in English. Many sources write “Khalil”.
Is there a sequel to The Prophet?
Yes: The Garden of the Prophet (1933), in which Almustafa returns to his native island. Gibran planned a trilogy and wrote only one sentence of the third book. He left the second unfinished at his death, and his secretary Barbara Young completed it, so how much of it is his own is debated.
Was Kahlil Gibran excommunicated?
No. His Arabic stories in Spirits Rebellious (1908) attacked the clergy, and the book was reportedly burned in Beirut; the Ottoman authorities banned his anti-clerical writings. Rumours of his excommunication circulated, but the Maronite Patriarchate never pronounced one.
Has The Prophet been made into a film?
Yes. Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet (2014) is an animated film produced by Salma Hayek and overseen by Roger Allers, with each chapter animated by a different director, among them Tomm Moore and Bill Plympton. Liam Neeson voices Mustafa. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2014. The Broken Wings was filmed in Lebanon in 1962.
Was Kahlil Gibran also a painter?
Yes. He trained at the Académie Julian in Paris from 1908, first exhibited his drawings in Boston in 1904, and illustrated The Prophet and most of his other English books. Knopf published Twenty Drawings in 1919.
When and how did Kahlil Gibran die?
On 10 April 1931 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York, aged 48. The recorded cause was cirrhosis of the liver with early tuberculosis in one lung. His body was taken back to Bsharri, and he left his future American royalties to the town.
Footnotes
- Kahlil Gibran — Wikipedia
- List of works by Kahlil Gibran — Wikipedia
- The Prophet (book) — Wikipedia
- Khalil Gibran — Britannica
- Books by Kahlil Gibran — kahlilgibran.com
- Al-Mawakib, The Processions — kahlilgibran.com
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.”
— Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (1923), “On Children”
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