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Poison in the Air, Jabbour Douaihy's final novel, chronicles the decades of social, political, and economic turmoil leading up to and including the recent collapse of his beloved Lebanon after the horrific explosion that occurred at the Port of Beirut in 2020. Douaihy brings a multitude of bottled-up toxicity to the surface, as though he is writing his last letter to the world, or a suicide note for Lebanon, as he paints a picture of a society marching down a path to self-destruction.
About the author
Jabbour Douaihy (1949-2021) was born in Zgharta, northern Lebanon. He received his PhD degree in Comparative Literature from the Sorbonne and was Professor of French Literature at the Lebanese University. He has published eight works of fiction, including novels, short stories and children’s books. His novel
June Rain was also shortlisted for the inaugural IPAF in 2008. His novels
June Rain, The American Quarter, and
Printed in Beirut are published in English by Interlink Books.
Paula Haydar is Clinical Assistant Professor of Arabic at the University of Arkansas. She holds a PhD degree in comparative literature and an M.F.A. degree in literary translation. She has translated numerous novels by contemporary Lebanese, Palestinian, and Jordanian authors. Her translation of Lebanese novelist Jabbour Douaihy’s
June Rain was selected as the highly commended runner-up of the 2014 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation and also made the
Daily Star’s list of Top Middle East Novels of 2014. Her translations of Lebanese authors also include three novels by Elias Khoury (
Gates of the City,
The Journey of Little Gandhi, and
The Kingdom of Strangers) and three novels by Rashid al-Daif (
This Side of Innocence ,
Learning English, and
Who’s Afraid of Meryl Streep?). Her translations of novels by Palestinian writers include Sahar Khalifeh’s
The End of Spring and Adania Shibli’s
Touch (Interlink). Her most recent translation is
What Price Paradise by Jordanian writer Jamal Naji.
