Being a writer, one usually knows from the start what type of writer one wants to be, or at least strives to. General categories as academic, fiction, non-fiction or journalistic writing are fairly simple to choose. A writer may experiment at first, but at the end, the pen gravitates towards categories that fit one’s strength, interest, or more importantly, one’s purpose in writing in the first place. However, there’s a certain mystery as to how certain subjects hover towards a writer, almost as if wanting to find them to get a story told. Without such magic and mystery, writing would lose a large part of its charm…
Within the realm of my creative non-fiction writing, there are two stories that found me, which are now part of two very different published collection works I am very happy to be part of and share with you:
In “Mosaic of Tongues: Multilingual Learning for the Arabic-Speaking World” (Collective Work. TBR Books, 2024) I contribute to this rich exploration on multilingual education within Arab-speaking communities through my own experience. My personal journey with languages wasn’t only related to the pedagogic part of the endeavour and to the places I lived. Learning Arabic, most notably, was key to establishing, cementing and maintaining a connection to and identity with the motherland. I never gave the other languages much thought, always taking them for granted. Later, when I learned that Charlemagne had equated fluency in multiple languages with possessing multiple souls, I’ve questioned whether being a polyglot was ever a good idea…
Meanwhile, in “Beyond Shattered Glass: Voices from the Aftermath of the Beirut Explosion (Collective Work. Olive Branch Press, 2023), I write the story of a Civil Defense volunteer in the aftermath of the August 4 Beirut blast. The book is an anthology of loss, survival, pain, dignity and humanity, or as Lebanese-Canadian Rawi Hage put it, “a collection of memories that stand against the immorality of power and imposed oblivion.” As someone who experienced this tragedy first hand, August 4 will never be something easy to talk or write about, even when done in the third person. But one thing is certain, it must never, ever be forgotten. 100% of the royalties from the book are being donated to support victims of the explosion.
You can find and learn more about the books on TBR’s website and Beyond Shattered Glass online respectively.
Eye on the East 