Beirut39

The Beirut39 project was initially launched at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (17–22 March 2009), attended by judge Abdo Wazen as well as director of the project Cristina Fuentes la Roche and Peter Florence, director of Hay Festival. More...

The Beirut39 project was fully launched in Beirut, and nominations for the project, of writers of Arab origin aged 39 and under, were solicited.

The announcement of the writers selected for Beirut39 was announced in a dedicated event taking place at Frankfurt Book Fair on 16 October 2009.

Friday 16 October 2009 at 1.30pm
Venue: Frankfurt Book Fair, Press Centre, Hall 6.2.

The 39 selected participants in Beirut39 will be promoted in the media (including interviews, articles and extracts from their work) and through exhibitions.

The project will be publicised in a variety of media to raise awareness of the upcoming Beirut39 Festival and its participants.

The program of events for the Beirut39 Festival involving all selected writers will be announced, including event details, venues and other information.

The 39 writers selected to participate in Beirut39 will be invited to Beirut for four days, and around 50 events will be organized all over the city, in libraries, bookshops, cafés, universities and schools etc. The events will be structured around literary topics and will take the form of panel debates between three and five writers with a chairperson. All events will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience. The events will be free and entry will be open to the general public; the Festival hopes to attract a diverse audience, reflecting the power of writing to stimulate social cohesion and cultural understanding.