A french lebanese writer between East and West
(source : daily newspaper Ouest France – 21/07/2014)
Three questions for Stéphanie NASSIF, a French-Lebanese writer …
Can you tell us more about your new book ?
My last novel entitled « Le trésor du temple de Melqart » (The treasure of Melqart’s temple) will be published next september. It’s an historic thriller on the Phoenician. Adoniram, a young fisherman living at Tyr (980 before J.C.) becomes, thanks to his passion for the sculpture, the architect of the king Hiram The Big and is responsible of the construction of the Melqart’s temple. But he will have to be careful because this pharaonic project arouses keen interest.
What were the main events of the year 2014 for you ?
Last April I received an award for my last book entitled « Qadisha, la vallée du silence » (Qadisha, the valley of silence) during the conference organized by the private university NDU and the Association for the Promotion of Reading at Tripoli. The subject of this conference was : « Tribute to the writers who wrote on the North-Lebanon ».
In May, the Lion’s Club, the Association for the Promotion of Reading and the Safadi Center organized a competition of writing in arabic, french, and english language between students from about 10 high schools. For the category french language, the competition was about my last novel « Qadisha ». After a meeting with the author, the students had to submitt the various forms of silence mentioned in the book. Then they had to study the symbolism of the silence and to answer by arguing to the question : in this trip between West and East, is the silence dividing or unifying ? I judged the reports of the students, one of them was exceptional for its poetic sense. This experience was for me so successfull, because lebanese students don’t use to read books, that’s why this competition was so important.
What are you literary projects for the next months ?
I will leave for a moment the novel to dedicate myself in more personal work. I will begin an essay about the exchanges between the cultures and more particulary between East and West. This new book will be the result of my personal experience and also my point of view after the more and more dramatic events which brings into conflict these civilizations.
My readers can find me on Facebook, where I regulary put some extracts of my readings in relationship with the current events.