He has been writing since 1985 and has so far published two novels, two collections of short stories, five collections of poems, and one play in Arabic. His books have been published in German, English, Italian, French, Spanish, Macedonian, Romanian and Serbian translations. His poems have appeared in different languages in various literary anthologies, magazines, and journals worldwide.

He has been granted numerous major fellowships, including the Elias Cannetti Fellowship of the City of Vienna in 2005, and was awarded the International Grand Prize for Poetry 2007 at the International Festival Curtea de Argeş in Romania. In 2008, he was appointed Austrian Ambassador for the European Year for Intercultural Dialogue (EJID). In the same year, he received the Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria. He is a faculty member of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. His last two poetry collections have been published in Beirut in 2010 (We Sold the Ground and Were Happy with the Dust) and in Cairo in 2011 (Not Sin). He has presented his work at many international literature festivals.

photo by Hans Labler