Rasha al Ameer

Rasha al Ameer is a Lebanese novelist and publisher. She is best known for her novel in Arabic, The Last Day, and as co-founder with her brother Lokman Slim of the publishing house Dar al-Jadeed.

Biography Rasha Al-Ameer, by her birth name Rasha Slim, was born to a Lebanese father and a Syrian-Egyptian mother. Her father was a member of the Lebanese parliament. She flew with her family the country for France during the Lebanese civil war, where she studied history and fine arts which publishes works of fiction, poetry and essays, sometimes in a bilingual version. Dar al-Jadeed, published for example, Arabic authors such as the poet Mahmoud Darwich,

R. al Ameer perfected her skill in classical Arabic by studying with an imam, deepened her knowledge in theology and became more acquainted with Arabic poetry, specially the work of the 10th century Iraqi poet Al-Mutanabbi. At the end of this initiation, she published a novel in 2002 entitled The Last Day. Confession of an Imam (original title: Yawm al-dîn French, and Italian. The work traces the psychological evolution of a man who, following his encounter with a beloved woman, has a new look at the world and overcomes his inhibitions. The story also deals with social themes such as the relationship between religion and modernity, between Islam and the state. His life changes when he responds to the solicitations of a young woman from a cosmopolitan background, with a modern lifestyle, who has undertaken to establish an index of the work of a 10th century Arab poet, Al- Mutanabbi. which brings “a remote flavor to the exposition of hot topics such as sex, religion, politics and celebrity” according to literary critic Marcia Lynx Qualey. The book's English translator, Jonathan Wright, also compares the novel's style to that of Jane Austen, due to the frequency of long sentences, meticulous attention to detail, and taste for psychological analysis. Seen from afar, the country looks like a paradise, but in reality, life there is hell. Coveted by its neighbours, it is the scene of merciless wars. While its inhabitants were considering war as inevitable, birds carry this small country on their wings, far from its turbulent neighbors, towards a “region that only birds can reach”, It is “the most controversial sign of the Arabic language”. This consonant is not considered as a letter; it is sometimes pronounced, sometimes elided, stable or unstable depending on the case. The book is, according to L'Orient littéraire, a “playful tale”, which can make one think of a poem by Jacques Prévert.] Works Yawm al-din, Beirut: Dar Al-Jadeed, 2002. Translated into French by Youssef Seddik as Le dernier jour: confessions d'un imam, Paris: Actes Sud, 2009. Translated into English by Jonathan Wright. Judgment Day: A Modern Arabic Novel, Oxford University Press, 2011.