Bibliotopia 2026 | Interview with Najwa Barakat and Antoine Wauters

The Ghosts of the Psyche
Moderated by Oriane Jeancourt-Galignani

Najwa Barakat is a Lebanese writer and journalist. After fleeing the civil war in 1984, she settled in France and worked for RFI, the BBC, and Al Jazeera. Translated into several languages, her novels include, in English, "Oh, Salaam!" (Interlink, 2015) and "Mister N." (And Other Stories, 2022), both translated by Luke Leafgreen. This last psychological thriller follows a writer adrift, driven mad by violence, and drowning his despair in the dark underbelly of what appears to be Beirut. Through ingenious narrative twists and turns, imagination and reality merge, offering a deep understanding of how the world’s turmoil and chaos affect individuals.

Antoine Wauters is a Belgian novelist, poet, and screenwriter. His first novel, "Nos mères" (Verdier, 2014), brought him to the attention of a wider audience. This was followed by eight books, translated into several languages, including "Mahmoud ou la montée des eaux" (Verdier, 2021), which won, among others, the Livre Inter Prize, the Wepler Prize, and the Marguerite Duras Prize, and "Le musée des contradictions" (Éditions du sous-sol, 2022, Goncourt Prize for Short Stories). "Haute-Folie" (Gallimard, 2025, Jean Giono Prize) offers a poetic and powerful reflection on the weight of trauma and its transmission, telling the story of a man whose mind is tormented by family secrecy.

Fondation Jan Michalski, Sunday 31 May 2026