São Paulo – After releasing a book of her Lebanese grandmother’s writings in English early this year, the Brazilian journalist and writer Wilma Ary saw the piece get published in Arabic this December. The book, which Ary edited, tells the story of Britain’s Miriam Pease Bo Sauber, who was married to a Lebanese and cared after children at an orphanage during World War One in Lebanon.
The Arabic version was released under the title “Hunger in Lebanon, eyewitness and martyrs” at the Beirut International Arab Book Fair by the publisher Dar Saer Mashrek, as part of the project "Conservação do Patrimônio Libanês na América Latina" carried out by the Lebanese university Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (Usek).
It features manuscripts written by Miriam from 1906 to 1918. She met her Lebanese husband in New Zealand and relocated to Lebanon with him when he fell ill. In the city of Broummana, Wilma Ary’s grandma looked after war-torn orphans in an institution and witnessed tragedy first-hand. Miriam died of Spanish flu, debilitated by famine.
A Portuguese version was translated from English and released in Brazil. “The book is an eyewitness account of Miriam’ experiences during World War One in Lebanon. It’s a diary recounting daily life and the hard times during the war,” says Roberto Khatlab, the director of Usek’s Center for Latin American Studies and Cultures, who was involved in the book’s release.
According to Khatlab, the Arabic version will extend the book’s reach and allow the Lebanese people to learn more about their own history. Khatlab, also a Brazilian and a writer, lives in Lebanon and handled the book’s introduction. “Miriam was a woman with great hope for better days, a woman of great faith in God and providence, and that helped her through this sad time in life. She energetically raised and educated her kids; after marrying, their children emigrated, some of them to Brazil. Today they are a big family, mostly based in [Brazilian states] Ceará and São Paulo,” he says.
Book “Hunger in Lebanon, eyewitness and martyrs” (in Arabic)
Publisher: Dar Saer Mashrek, from Beirut, Lebanon
Online sales: www.entire-east.com or by email at info@entire-east.com
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
