I cyber-met Yara Zgheib through Marta Dvorak. Marta, who was a friend of Mavis Gallant (MG), and who has written analytically and intuitively, beautifully and widely about her, is sharing of her intelligence and networks. It’s not my business to speak for Marta but I think she agrees with my founding principle, which is that while MG carries the unfortunate taint of being “a writer’s writer,” her work is accommodating, of wide appeal; it belongs, or should belong, to everybody. It’s not an exclusive academic redoubt: it’s of its time and place, yes, but it speaks to us in ours. That MG should be celebrated rather than neglected, especially in this landmark year, was the only point I wanted to make when I began this diary-keeping as my personal testimonial. Marta, bless her Austro-Hungarian-Winnipeg-Hamilton-Paris nurtured heart, has been supportive of this, has generously brokered meetings with her contacts, with other friends of Mavis (FOM). Yara is one.
Yara and I spoke via Zoom on Saturday, July 2, 4 p.m. Pacific, 7 p.m. Eastern. She lives in an historic quarter of Boston with her husband and their two young children, twins, and it seems fitting, somehow, to post this today, July 4. She speaks movingly of what she values — cherishes, truly — in MG’s stories, about how they’ve been for her, as a writer, formative, and about how she found her way there via Michael Ondaatje. Her life has been more than usually eventful. She’s self-effacing, modest, but know how accomplished a person is Yara Zgheib. Born in Lebanon in 1989, she spent her early childhood in Glasgow; her parents are academics, and her father was studying there. A dreamy child, a reader and a dancer, she also had social concerns and began early on — the family was back in Beirut — to work with Syrian refugees. Eventually (this is the most capsulized history ever written) she made her way to D.C. and to Georgetown, and then to Paris for her PhD. This will tell you something about her academic accomplishments, and her post-university dalliance in the complex, surely Baroque world of international security and counterterrorism. A young woman, she has lived several lives. I encourage you to spend some time with her website, and to read her weekly blog posts, which are gorgeous. Oh, and listen to her, here, here and here. These musical collaborations are lovely.
Her first novel, The Girls at 17 Swann Street, was published in 2019; No Land to Light On came out at the beginning of this year.
They’re also available as audiobooks — I’ve been listening to them — and both are really, really well-read. It helps, quite a lot, actually, that they are also really, really well- written.
I hope you enjoy the interview. As with the writing of these diary entries, I’ve given myself permission when such occasions arise to be less disciplined than was my habit when I did this kind of work for money. I have no agenda entering the fray other than to find out what my interlocutor has to say about MG. The enterprise is informal, and I hope it doesn’t come across as discourteous. Yara — she speaks English, French, Arabic, and Spanish btw — was very patient with my rambling, stuttering, sometimes incoherent line of questioning. She must have felt like she was stuck on a Sunday drive with someone who just couldn’t resist a dusty byway. I think the only gloss I’ll provide is to note that, fairly early on in our exchange, Yara mentions her time in Canada, in Toronto, as a dancer. I didn’t inquire in the moment, but in case you’re wondering, she attended the summer programme of the National Ballet School — there’s nothing she can’t do — and was offered a place in the regular academic / professional school, but declined the spot. OK, enough said, Yara speaks best for herself, and doesn’t need me to bag on and on. Thanks for reading / watching, and most especially thanks to the warm, forgiving, intelligent and inspiring Yara Zgheib. Again, I really do recommend her books and her blog: time well spent. xo, B
Grief, Memory, Three O'Clock in the Morning: My Mavis Gallant Centennial Diary, July 4