8th Annual West Hollywood Book FairSee event photos below.

Levantine Cultural Center participated in the 8th annual West Hollywood Book Fair, Sunday October 4th, 2009 with a booth featuring authors and musicians/peformers, and a panel discussion with Tamim Ansary and Reza Aslan.

For the past seven years, this event has attracted many avid readers and book enthusiasts alike. Over 400 authors and artists will be in attendance during the 2009 edition of the WeHo Book Fair, with some 100 discussion panels, book signings, writing workshops, poetry readings, storytelling and theatre. As ever, there will be a children’s area to entertain kids.

Come visit the Levantine Cultural Center’s booth (# E47-48, located in “The Field”), where we will have a comfortable lounge area to relax in, interesting books, CDs and DVDs available for purchase and some free goodies for those who come by. We will also be hosting a number of book/CD/DVD signings with authors and musicians:

Author/Performer Schedule at Levantine’s Booth

• 11-11:30 am Yuval Ron, (musician) with various albums such as, “The Seeker of Truth”, “Under the Olive Tree: sacred music of the Middle East” and many more.
• 11:30-12:00 pm Nubar Hovsepian, editor of the anthology The War on Lebanon
• 12:00-12:30 pm Gabriel Piterberg, author of The Returns of Zionism
• 1:00-1:30 pm Sandy Tolan, author of The Lemon Tree
• 2:00-2:30 pm Dr. John Habib, author of Ibn Sa'ad's Warriors of Islam
• 4:30-5:00 pm Reza Aslan, author of No God but God: the origins, evolution, and future of Islam and How to Win a Cosmic War and Tamim Ansary, author of Destiny Disrupted: a History of the World through Islamic Eyes

Tamim Ansary and Reza AslanLevantine Panel, 3-4 pm:

Art, Politics & the Arab/Muslim World: A Conversation with Tamim Ansary and Reza Aslan at the West Hollywood Book Fair, moderated by Jordan Elgrably

For those who follow international politics, a Swiss watchmaker or microsurgeon may come to mind when you think of Afghanistan or Iran. Both are intricate, politically complex societies. Afghanistan has fought foreign occupation for decades; Iran has resisted meddling by outside forces (often Western); and both have dealt with civil upheaval while seeking stability. True, ostensibly Americans ousted the Taliban from power, yet peace continues to elude Afghanistan; Ahmadinejad may be the declared winner of Iran’s June elections, but a new revolution is brewing, with more turmoil to come after this summer’s massive demonstrations, shootings and arrests.

Tamim Ansary, an expat writer from Afghanistan who lives in San Francisco, published the recent tome, Destiny Disrupted, a History of the World Through Islamic Eyes. He explains the East-West narrative from a decidedly different perspective—one that begins with the ancient Persian empires through the global Khalifate, Western colonialism and into modern times.

Yet Ansary is quick to note that he’s better at seeing why Afghanistan is more complicated than he is at predicting the country’s future in his crystal ball. And while Iranian American scholar Reza Aslan has become the go-to expert on Iran for CBS and such shows as Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and Bill Maher’s Real Time, he would be the first to admit that things in Iran are changing at a rate that makes heads spin.

Ansary and Aslan will engage in conversation at the 8th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair this year, where Ansary says he will talk about “music (and art) in the context of war, with a special emphasis on Afghanistan. The question being: what role and value do art and music have amongst a people suffering from violence, starvation, and terror?” Likewise, Aslan will talk about democracy and Iran’s youth movement from the perspective of music and film as a form of resistance.

Free Parking for the West Hollywood Book Fair will be available at the Pacific Design Center, located across the street from West Hollywood Park. Please enter the parking structure from Melrose Blvd.

Reza Aslan, Tamim Ansary, and Jordan Elgrably: Photo by Mary El-Issa

Reza Aslan and Tamim Ansary: Photo by Mary El-Issa

Reza Aslan: Photo by Mary El-Issa

Tamim Ansary: Photo by Mary El-Issa

Reza Aslan, Tamim Ansary, and Jordan Elgrably: Photo by Mary El-Issa