Hassan Zahreddine was born in Lebanon in 1969. He studied painting in Beirut, then emigrated to Canada in 2021, where he studied printmaking in Montréal. »Zin« [2022] is Hassan Zahreddine’s first book to be published in German, for which he wrote the text himself. It tells the story of a
Zeina Abirached was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1981. She studied at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) in Beirut and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Abirached published her first comics while studying at ALBA. From the very beginning, her childhood in civil-war ravaged Lebanon played
Yussef Bazzi was born in 1966 in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Like many of his generation, his life was marked by the Lebanese Civil War, which broke out in April, 1975 and continued in differing constellations and with varying levels of intensity until 1990. As a teenager he joined one
Viken Berberian was born in Beirut in 1966 and grew up on a street called Zokak-el blot, which means the cobbled alley. He moved to Los Angeles in December of 1975, eight months after the start of the Lebanese civil war. Berberian completed graduate studies at Columbia University and the
Vénus Khoury-Ghata was born in Bcharré in northern Lebanon in 1937. She grew up with three siblings in a Christian quarter of Beirut. Her mother tongue is Arabic, whereas her father preferred the French culture and language. Thus, her first attempts at writing were »in French from left to right
Suleman Taufiq was born in Beirut in 1953 and grew up in Damascus. He came to Germany in 1971, where he studied philosophy and comparative literature. He published his first collection of poetry in 1978 in German. He has published stories and essays as well as poetry and children’s books
Salah Stétié was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1929. Already at an early age, he was led to the playful use of language by his father who himself wrote poems. The origins to his poetic creations can be found in the city of his birth, the crossroads between Arabic and
Rawi Hage was born in Beirut in 1964 and he grew up during the civil war in Lebanon. He emigrated to New York when he was 18 years old. After adopting the English language there and earning his living as a salesperson and warehouse worker among other various jobs for
Rashid al-Da’if was born in 1945 in Ehden, Lebanon. Despite the modest conditions of his upbringing, he attended school, studied Arabic Literature at the Lebanese University, and completed two doctorates at Paris. Al-Daif is considered a compelling chronicler of the transformations in Lebanon and an innovative representative of the Arabic
Nadine Touma was born in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon in 1972 and, from 1990 to 1997, studied at Wellesley College in the USA before settling in Beirut as a freelance artist. The issues at the heart of Touma’s work – as an installation artist, film producer, author, and publisher
The improv musician, music producer, and comic artist Mazen Kerbaj was born in 1975 in Beirut, where he grew up during the Lebanese civil war and attended a Franco-Lebanese high school. During the 1990s, when the cultural life in Beirut was reawakened, he played free jazz in the city’s clubs.
The Lebanese sociologist and anthropologist Dr Marie-Claude Souaid-Hesse was born in Beirut in 1954. After studying sociology at the Université Lyon II in France, she first taught at the University of Boukhalfa in Algeria. Since her return to Lebanon in 1980, she has worked as a teacher and researcher. In
