CedarWorld December 2013 | Page 53

From BALCONIES: A Mediterranean Memoir By Mishka Mojabber Mourani Mishka Mojabber Mourani was born in Egypt of Greek-Lebanese parents. She has lived in Australia and in Lebanon. She is the author of a poetry collection, Lest We Forget: Lebanon 1975-1990. Her short story, “The Fragrant Garden,” appeared in Hikayat: Short Stories by Lebanese Women [Telegram books, London, 2006], and Lebanon Through Writers’ Eyes [Eland, London, 2009]. Her work also appeared in Habiter Beyrouth? Parcours d’écriture [Assabil, Beirut, 2010], and La Mediterranée au Carrefour Des Mots [Assabil-Kitabat, 2011]. She has published Balconies: A Mediterranean Memoir [Dar An-Nahar, Beirut, 2009] and translated to English Faiseur de réalités [Maker of Realities, 2011] French poems by Antoine Boulad inspired by Mohamad Rawas’ art. In 2012, her work appeared in Mused Literary Review An Old Box of Antiques, and Arabic Literature in English Global Story Behind A Bilingual Book of Poems , and Teta, Did You Know Aleppo? Her writing deals with the themes of war, memory, identity, exile and gender issues. Most recently, she co-authored a poetry collection entitled Alone, Together [Kutub, Beirut, 2012], a project in which Aida Y. Haddad translated Mourani’s poetry from English to Arabic, and vice versa. In 2013, Her short story Fatma's Fate appeared in the Winter edition of The Studio Voice, her reflection From its shore I saw Jerusalem appeared in Your Middle East, and the poem One is Not Born a Beiruti in Sukoon Magazine.