ZENA EL KHALIL
BOOKS:
"It was warmth, when Beirut was shot dead."
كان الدفء، عندما قتل
بالرصاص بيروت
Zena el Khalil is a visual artist, writer and cultural activist; she holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and a Bachelor of Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut.
In 2006, el Khalil began a blog at the start of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon from her apartment in Beirut, beirutupdate.blogspot.com. It was a personal account of the siege that lasted for 33 days. It quickly received mass-international attention.
Soon after, Zena completed her memoir entitled “Beirut, I Love You”, now translated into several languages including Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and Portuguese. The book is optioned for film, and she is currently working on turning it into a feature film.
Zena lives in Beirut with her Jack Russell Terrier, Tapi. In 2012 she was made a TED Fellow.
VIDEOS
Al Jazeera Artsworld's feature on Zena El Khalil. (Starts at 45secs)
A'Salaam Alaykum: Peace Be Upon You An Interactive Sculptural Installation was featured in the Fondazione Merz's "Meteorite in Giardino 2"