Iman Humaydan
(Libanon, 1956) broke through internationally in 2004 with her debut novel B as in Beirut. The story is told by four different women, who have to learn to cope with the consequences of the civil war. The most penetrating is the story of Warda, who goes crazy with grief and guilt-feelings because her father dies in a bomb attack and she loses her little daughter on top of that. In her second book Wild Mulberries (2008) Iman Humaydan describes life in a small Lebanese village in the 1930s. The main character Sarah is a young girl dreaming of a better future and a meeting with her mother, who fled the village and its patriarchal rules when Sarah was small. Iman Humaydan likewise grew up in a small Lebanese village, but in a tolerant family. Her third novel Hayawat Okhra (Other Lives) came out in 2010. It recounts the life of a woman coming back home after so many years of exile to rediscover her city and past. Hayawat Okhra will be published in English and French by the end of 2011. She studied sociology in Beirut and works as a researcher, journalist, and in launching and implementing development projects in Lebanese rural areas.
Past events
Wintercafe 2: VPRO De Avonden Live
VPRO's De Avonden looks for literary means of becoming a better and happier ‘Mensch’ With Rodaan al Galidi, Thomas Möhlmann, Iman Humaydan and Abeer Soliman. Singer songwriter Lotte van Dijck, together with Peter Akkerman, takes the audience right through performances to her musical Utopia. Hosts: Jeroen van Kan and Catherine van Campen. In Dutch and English.
Wintercafe 3: New Etiquettes, please!
Columnist Beatrijs Ritsema gives a crash course in Dutch etiquette, complemented by a Moroccan version by Esma Abouzahra. Host: Sanna andréa-Dia. In Dutch
The tone and the Music
Conversation about engagement and literature with Iman Humaydan and Kettly Mars; host Hassnae Bouazza. In English
