Beautifully illustrated, intimately personal and politically trenchant account of Beirut's catastrophic 2020 port explosion

Lamia Ziadé is a Lebanese author, illustrator and visual artist. Born in Beirut in 1968 and raised during the Lebanese Civil War, she moved to Paris at 18 to study graphic arts. She then worked as a designer for Jean-Paul Gaultier, exhibited her art in numerous galleries internationally, and went on to publish several illustrated books, including My Port of Beirut, Ma très grande mélancolie arabe which won the Prix France-Liban, Ô nuit, ô mes yeux and Bye bye Babylone.

Prologue: August 4, 2020
1: The Sirens of the Port of Beirut
2: The Heroes
3: "A steamer enters the haze of the port of Beirut"
4: The Enchantment of Objects
5: The Saint George Hospital
6: Lady Cochrane
7: The Third Basin
8: My Sister's Friends
9: Guilt
10: Sacy and Noun
11: The Criminals
12: Report on the Port, 1956
13: My Father's Stubbornness
14: A Peaceful and Gentle People
15: My Sister on the Telephone
16: Who?
17: Beirut, Nest of Spies
18: The Port, Like the Country
19: Thawra, Birth of a Nation
20: October 17th
21: A Turn for the Worse