This Conference is the first in a world-wide series of cultural activities to celebrate the centenary of Rihani's influential work al-Rihaniyyat (first published in Arabic in 1910), and his The Book of Khalid (1911), the first English-language book ever authored by an Arab.
Rihani was an influential thinker, writer and political and cultural activist, and one of the most prominent humanist intellectuals of the 20th century. He was a most renowned figure in the Arabic literary and cultural renaissance, and a literary and intellectual innovator in more than one sphere. He's the pioneer of the Arabic Diaspora (Mahjari) literature; and the first to compose Arabic prose poetry, or free verse. He was also the first bilingual Arabic/English fiction writer; the first to experiment with political drama; and one of the earliest committed Arab novelists.
Rihani was a prolific writer (he published nearly 30 books in English alone). He contributed to a wide range of genres in both languages Arabic and English: poetry, short story, novel, drama, essay and creative translation. His interests extended to visual and performing arts, philosophy, literary and cultural criticism, history, politics, sociology, and travel. He was thus a true ‘Renaissance intellectual' who was greatly instrumental in the revitalisation of the old Arabic tradition of integrated knowledge. He remains one of a few modern Arabs who could express this universal creativity, in equal measure, and with the same ease in two world languages, Arabic and English.
The Ameen Rihani International Conference aims to highlight Rihani's contribution and the relevance to our own times of his prolific writings (Arabic and English) and original ideas, particularly in the context of cultural relations and mutual perceptions between the Arab World and the West. The Conference hopes to provide a shift away from the barren paradigms of the ‘Clash of Civilizations', by focusing on the ideas of this man who emphasized the importance of mutual acceptance and mutual respect between peoples and cultures.
Invited Speakers
- Safdar Ahmed
- Samer Akkach
- Fadiah Alshehri
- Youssef Choueiri
- Nuwar Mawlawi Diab
- Todd Fine
- Nijmeh Hajjar
- Vrasidas Karalis
- Ali Mahafzah
- Naji Oueijan
- Ameen Albert Rihani
- Ahmad Shboul