Celebrating the legacy of the late Lebanese writer and artist Etel Adnan with Google Doodle
This Monday, Google honored the inspiring legacy of the late revolutionary poet and artist Etel Adnan with a special Doodle.
The Doodle depicted Adnan elegantly seated amidst a captivating array of her own paintings in what appears to be her art-filled gallery. Adding to the patriotic ambiance, a Lebanese flag proudly adorned the corner behind her.
Hailing from Beirut, Lebanon in 1925 during the French mandate era, Adnan emerged as a prominent figure in the Arab world’s art and literary scenes, garnering swift acclaim on a global scale.
Adnan’s most famous literary work is her 1977 novel Sitt Marie Rose, set before and during the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War, which earned the Franco-Arabic Friendship Award and has been translated into more than 10 languages.
In 2010, she was awarded the Arab American Book Awards for her story collection Master of the Eclipse.
Although she started painting in the late 1950s, her work only started to capture international attention in her 80s.
The late writer was born to a Syrian father who was a former officer of the Ottoman Empire, and a Greek mother. She was educated in French-language schools in Beirut before studying philosophy at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
She lived in California for many years during and after Lebanon’s Civil War and spent most of her late years in France. She passed away in Paris in November 2021 at the age of 96.
The content of this report relied on a 2021 obituary of Etel Adnan written by Farah Abdessamad for The New Arab.
