The AFR is proud to invite you to our first literary event on January 28 at 11:30 AM.  Pauline Mouhanna Karroum will join us to present her book, Elle habitait Sandwich, published in French in 2020.  The presentation will be in English.  She will talk about her book, and Lebanon, her country of origin.  The talk will be followed by lunch. At 2 PM, Pauline Karroum will give a free lecture in French titled French literature in the Middle East and Maghreb  geared toward French teachers, but all are welcome. She will touch to the art of writing, based on some of the most famous Francophone authors like Amin Maalouf, Leila Slimani, Yasmina Khadra, and share tips on how to write some short paragraphs, in an easy and fun way. We can all be writers!

French teachers are welcome to join us for lunch at 1:00PM prior to the conference, or at 1:40 for just coffee and baklava, and French conversation.

This is Pauline first book.  In addition to being an author, Pauline Karroum is a journalist and teaches French at the AF of Washington, DC.  

Book synopsis: Therese, Franco-Lebanese, lives in Sandwich, Illinois. She decides one night to slam the door without looking back. Now that she is 37 years old, she questions her choices: leaving her home country and following her husband to the United States. Her exile, her husband’s career and the establishing of her own family kept her busy for ten years. Today, her nostalgia pushes the woman to question all those choices, for better or for worse.

Thérèse, Franco-Libanaise vivant à Sandwich, Midwest, a claqué la porte sans se retourner. À trente-sept ans, elle se questionne sur les raisons de son émigration et se demande si elle a fait les bons choix en suivant son mari aux États-Unis, dix ans auparavant. Cet exil, la fondation de sa famille et l’établissement de la réussite de son époux ont longtemps occupé son esprit... Aujourd’hui étreinte par une indicible nostalgie, elle remet tout en question, pour le meilleur ou pour le pire.

We invite everyone to read her book.  Here is an excerpt.

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