Writing in times of revolution(s)

The Boghossian Foundation and the Midis de la poésie invite Iranian authors and poets A. Laila and Maryam Madjidi to exchange with the journalist Aurore Vaucelle.

How do they position themselves through their writing with regards to their country? Have the revolutions influenced their practice? French, English and Persian, multiple languages of writing – does each language invite a different identity? Is it in one’s mother tongue, one’s country of origin, that poetry, language, finds its best refuge? Do we see things differently from one language to another?

These and other questions will be raised during an evening of open themes, a moment of exchange and discovery around Persian literature, written here and there.

This evening has been organised in collaboration with the poet Haleh Chinikar.

A. Laila was born in Iran and currently lives in Belgium. A poet, social scientist and international feminist activist, she considers herself a “traveller” between hope and revolt. In her daily life as an exile, she strives to create with the vigour of the present moment and the joy of sharing stories beyond the notion of borders. Her first collection Murs innocents was published by Midis de la Poésie.

Maryam Madjidi was born in 1980 in Tehran, and left Iran at the age of six to live in Paris and then in Drancy. Today, she teaches French to unaccompanied foreign minors, after having taught it to middle and high school students from the suburbs and then from the upper class, to the physically and mentally handicapped, to Chinese and Turkish students, and to prisoners. She lived for four years in Beijing and two years in Istanbul. Marx et la poupée, her first novel, won the 2017 Goncourt Prize for first novels and the 2017 Ouest-France Étonnants Voyageurs Prize.

Aurore Vaucelle is a Culture and Society journalist for La Libre Belgique. She launched the column La Libre Explore, which offers exclusive experiences to the readers who are taken behind the scenes and on the field.

The Midis de la poésie are genuine opportunities to approach the themes that run through contemporary literature from an original angle through lectures, conversations and readings – performances during lunchtime. The Midis de la poésie also include aperitifs, snacks, evenings, publications, writing workshops and a collection of poetry books that can be consulted on request. Since September 2022, the Midis de la poésie and FrancoFaune have joined forces to take over the Théâtre Poème, which is now called the Maison poème.

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With A. Laila and Maryam Madjidi

Literary evening ◇ 27 May 2023