Celebrate Francophonie Week at Villa Albertine with an evening dedicated to Lebanon’s vibrant culture.

The event will feature a discussion with authors Marwan Chahine, Tracy Chahwan, and Olivier Guez, moderated by journalist Joumana Khatib. It will highlight the diversity and creativity of contemporary Lebanese culture while addressing the recent hopes and promises emerging from a complex past.

Organized in partnership with the Institut du Monde Arabe,  Maison Tara, and STORM Bookstore, this trilingual event (in English, French, and Arabic) will include poetry readings, live music, and a showcase of Lebanese gastronomy.

Click here for tickets. Please note as seating is limited, entry will be granted on a first come, first served basis. Registration does not guarantee entry to the event.  

Panelists & Participants

Huda Asfour is a firm believer in transcending boundaries, evident in her roles as a musician and educator. Her musical journey began early in conservatories in Tunisia and Palestine, culminating in collaborations worldwide. With two studio albums, “Mars… Back and Forth” (2011) and “Kouni” (2018), to her credit, Huda has also composed music for film and multimedia projects, and has collaborated and featured with musicians internationally. Currently, she’s delving into the art of improvisation, with a keen focus on the intricate nuances of Arabic musical aesthetics and its interplay with language. In addition to her musical pursuits, Huda holds a B.Sc and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University and is a co-founder of several initiatives such as the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival, and the Cairo and Brooklyn improv orchestras. Explore her work here.

Lara Atallah is a multidisciplinary artist and writer. Her practice explores the political dimensions of landscape, probing both the futility and fluidity of borders as manmade constructs. Her writing has appeared in Artforum, Camera Austria, Flash Art Italia, Koukash, 128Lit, among others. She is the author of Edge of Elysium, Vol.1 (Open Projects Press, 2019) and Exit Signs on a Seaside Highway (Everybody Press, 2023)

Marianne Azar grew up in Lebanon between its villages and cities, with a profound appreciation for the culture of both. In Lebanon, she was active in mental health and social work alongside the writing scene, and researched Lebanese multilingualism and emotions. In 2021, she moved to New York from Scotland to pursue her PhD in Language Neuroscience. Aside from this, Marianne is a singer-songwriter, translator, essayist, and poet.

Rawya El Chab is a New York City-based theater maker who excavates forgotten histories through multidisciplinary performances. Her work fuses meticulous archival research, poetic text, and innovative audiovisual elements to illuminate voices from society’s margins. By examining how personal narratives both reflect and challenge dominant power structures, her performances create imaginative spaces for collective transformation. Her recent productions include Lula 19/85 & the Pearl of the Bekaa at La Mama Theater, The Gambler at the Exponential Festival, Epikoinonia (also at Exponential), and The Meltdown at Rattlestick Theater’s Global Forms. Rawya is currently developing Crossing the Waters, part of her trilogy exploring leftist movements in Lebanon through a personal lens in collaboration with the Brick Theater.

Marwan Chahine was born in France during the Lebanese Civil War. After becoming a journalist, he moved to Lebanon in 2015, having previously worked as a correspondent in Cairo for the newspaper Libération. Currently, he divides his time between Marseille and Beirut, where he works as a teacher and screenwriter. He is the author of Beyrouth, 13 avril 1975 (Belfond).

Tracy Chahwan is a cartoonist and illustrator from Lebanon. She started her career in Beirut, producing street art and posters for local independent music venues like the Beirut Groove Collective, and working with the Samandal and zeez comics collective publishing experimental comics and anthologies. In 2018, she published her first graphic novel Beirut Bloody Beirut (Marabulles), a story of two girls lost in the Beiruti night. After the Lebanese revolution in October 2019, she turned to journalistic comics, collaborating in books such as Guantanamo Voices and Where to Marie? Stories of Feminisms in LEBANON.

Olivier Guez  is the author of several books, including The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele (trans. by Georgia de Chambret, Verso). His latest novel, Mesopotamia (Grasset), follows the life of Gertrude Bell and explores the British colonization of the Middle East in the 19th century.

Joumana Khatib  is an editor and writer at The New York Times Book Review and began her career at The Times over a decade ago. She writes a weekly newsletter about publishing and literature and is a frequent guest on the Book Review‘s podcast.

Nour Sabbagh is a multidisciplinary creative born in Lebanon and raised in Paris, now based in New York City. In 2024, drawing from a rich background as an entrepreneur, art director, and mother, Nour launched STORM Bookstore, an independent bookstore focusing on SWANA (Southwest Asia North Africa) culture, ecologies and politics. Through her initiatives, Nour aims to uplift artists and designers from the SWANA diaspora and support for the narratives they collectively represent.

Assia Turquier-Zauberman is a writer and filmmaker. She works as a translator and interpreter for film and academia (NYFF, TIFF, The Academy Awards, Festival de Cannes, Cinéma du Réel…). Her recent writing has been published in the Reservoir and TIDE Magazine. She co-authored a book of conversation with David Graeber (Anarchy in a Manner of Speaking, 2019) published by Diaphanes Berlin and distributed by The University of Chicago of Press.