Levantine Cultural Center presents "Los Angeles-Beirut," a literary exploration of the two cities through the eyes of two Beirutis transplanted to Los Angeles and an American-born novelist whose recent book tells the story of a Beiruti transplanted to Los Angeles. Novelist Aris Janigian will read from and discuss his new novel This Angelic Land, the story of Adam Derderian, a hip, 27-year old bar owner, during his six-day journey through the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Seeming to carry scant memory of Lebanon's civil war, from which Derderian had fled while still a boy, the landscape of the riots now finds him revisiting the world he thought he had escaped. Derderian engages with Armenian gangsters, members of the Nation of Islam, a Hancock Park playboy and a Kurdish scenic artist as he watches his adopted city ransacked and set ablaze. Unflinchingly candid, This Angelic Land is also a timely tour de force. Critic D.J. Waldie of the Los Angeles Review of Books has called it "today's necessary book." Read Levantine Review's take on This Angelic Land. 

More than 40 films—from features to animated shorts—showed to audiences in five cities in California, including Berkeley and San Francisco. In Los Angeles the festival was cosponsored by the Levantine Cultural Center, a community partner that runs the New Voices in Middle Eastern Cinema series, with support in part from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Twenty7's new CD PapatyaTwenty7 plays a unique blend of rock with Middle Eastern influences. The band formed in 2007 when a group of young and talented musicians met each other through mutual friends in Los Angeles, California. Comprised of members originally from Turkey, Twenty7 adds Middle Eastern flavor to rock, forming a unique style of music with strong rhythms, technical guitar riffs, and powerful vocals. Okan is the free-spirited vocalist and bass guitarist, Murat is the charming guitarist, Volkan is the down-to-earth darbuka percussionist, and Kurt is the perfectionist drummer.

"Exiles" exhibition runs March 11-April 11, 2011EXILES, a new exhibition featuring two Iraqi artists will open at the Levantine Cultural Center's Inside/Outside Gallery with a reception for the artists on March 11, 2011, 6-10:00 pm, 5998 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90035. Exiles features Paul Batou and Faris Al-Saffar, exiled Iraqis whose art explores life in their native land. The two-man show runs through April 11, 2011.

This festival cAmazigh Film Festival 2010elebrates the rich Amazigh culture of North Africa and the Sahara with film, music, and food. "Amazigh" is the original word for the Berber people and means "the free people". Amazigs and their descendants are found in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

The celebration will commence on Saturday, October 30 at 5 pm at the Barnsdall Theatre and Art Gallery. The event will feature two films, Footsteps to Africa: A Nomadic Journey and Asshak: Tales of the Sahara, as well as exhibit artwork by painter Leslie Clark and jewelry designer Moussa Albaka.