Mission

The International Writers’ House in Beirut is a Lebanese non-government organization (NGO) registered with the Ministry of Interior. It is governed by a Board of Directors made up of five members and supported by an international literary committee that provides advice. In the medium to longer term, it may recruit staff.

The International Writers’ House in Beirut will address the lack of an international and multilingual literary event in Beirut, despite numerous punctual activities throughout the year such as language-specific book fairs (e.g. French and Arabic book fairs), or seminars on specific literature genres (e.g. Spanish or Latin-American meetings) or even still academic events (mostly revolving around French or Arabic language literature). The relevance of the International Writers’ House in Beirut project is further clarified when the importance of literature in Lebanese culture and of the events related to it are taken into consideration. Lebanon has always been the primary editorial platform and central point for the Arab world and in Northern Africa, counting, in 2010, 177 active publishing firms (in L’Industrie du livre au Liban, Kamal Hamdane dir., CRI, 2010). Of the books edited, 12.5% are works of literature (novels and poetry) and 30.9% of the population reads at least two books a month.

The two main Lebanese book fairs reflect the level of public interest for the written word. The French language book fair ranks third among French book fairs worldwide, just after those of Paris and Montreal, and totalled 100,000 visitors in 2005, a peak following a steady evolution since its inception in 1992. Its cancellation due to security reasons in 2006 and 2007 did not prevent attendance figures from soaring again rapidly once it had resumed (75,000 visitors in 2010). Similarly, attendance is high for the Arabic book fair which has been taking place annually since 1956. In 2009, it counted 350,000 visitors (in l’Orient Littéraire, Jan. 2010) and 255 stands for Lebanese and Arab publishing firms.