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Storytellers create intimate space in bustling Beirut

The old Arab tradition of storytelling is finding its way back into Lebanese hearts, and regular events are becoming increasingly popular in Beirut.
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Once a month, Ghada Seifeddine, a linguistics graduate student at the American University of Beirut, forgets about her shyness and takes the stage at Dar Bistro cafe in Beirut to tell personal life experiences. The best-received story she has shared was the one about becoming a woman — the day she first wore a traditional hijab — and her recent decision to wear something she feels more comfortable with, a turban. “I was surrounded by women who took off their hijab after wearing it for a long time. So I started thinking about how it relates to my identity,” she says.

Seifeddine’s performances are part of a spoken-word event in which short stories, in both English and Arabic and usually centering on a theme, are told live by the people who experienced them, reviving the old Arab tradition of storytelling.

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