The organizers of le Marathon des mots know it has never been a more important time for the public to hear what authors from Syria and Lebanon have to say.
MENA Offers Cultural Riches, Creative Wealth and Publishing Opportunity
Nathan Hull of Mofibo describes why he believes the Middle East and North Africa offer vast potential for publishers looking to expand internationally.
Publishers in the Middle East Hustle to Cope with Instability
Publishers in the Middle East describe how they are trying to get around daily challenges, in particular falling book sales, resulting from instability.
Hay Festival Xalapa Features Provocative Critics of Islam
Salman Rushdie and Lebanon’s Joumana Haddad are two of the provocative authors featured at this year’s Hay Festival in the Mexican city of Xalapa.
Can Distance, Dislocation Aid Novelists? Lebanon’s Rabih Alameddine Says “Yes”
The Lebanese-American novelist Rabih Alameddine discusses the need to both belong to and be estranged from a culture in order to be able to effectively evoke it in literature.
Border Crossers: The Here/There Memoirs
Beth Kephart, author of Handling the Truth — a guide to writing memoir — discusses several of her favorite border-crossing writers and the art of geomorphology.
Lebanese-Canadian Author Rawi Hage’s Winding Road to Success
Lebanese-Canadian author Rawi Hage, a featured speaker at this year’s Abu Dhabi Book Fair, discusses his long, transcontinental path to becoming a novelist.
Against Totalitarianism: Syria’s Nihad Sirees on Fiction and Morality
Exiled Syrian Novelist Nihad Sirees, whose novel The Silence and the Roar is published in the US today, reflects on the role of a novelist in the midst a totalitarian state.
In its 20th Year, Beirut’s Francophone Book Fair Soldiers On
Celebrating 20 years, Beirut’s Francophone Book Fair will honor the Goncourt Academy and launch a new book prize, despite recent escalated violence in the city.
Lebanon’s Francophone Book Fair Honors Camus, Features Local, Int’l Talents
By Olivia Snaije Opening on the heels of the Francophone summit in Montreux, Switzerland – Lebanon’s 17th Francophone book fair kicks off this Thursday in Beirut and runs until November 7th. Articles about the former French protectorate regularly lament the loss of French speakers to English but the Beirut event has nevertheless gained the status of being the third Francophone …