Nada El Hage

Early life and education

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Nada El Hage is the daughter of the Lebanese poet Ounsi el-Hajj. She completed her high school education in Beirut before heading to Paris to study Philosophy at Sorbonne University. She later returned to Beirut to work with the stage director Raymond Jebara.

Career

In the 1980s she translated several plays from French to Lebanese. The plays were directed by Joseph Bou Nassar and presented on the working space of "Al Masrah Al baladi".

She co-translated along with the Lebanese writer May Menassa the poetical works of the late Nadia Tueni, "Sentimental Archives of the Lebanese War".^[1]

Between the year 1981 and 1995 she edited the cultural pages in “Fairuz” magazine under the title of “Dalil Fairuz”. She also wrote for the cultural sections of both An-Nahar and Al Hayat newspapers, and the weekly newspaper Dalil An Nahar.

As of 2017 she is reported as being advisor to Hiba Al Kawas and Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of HKI (Hiba Al Kawas International Inc.).

Books and translations

In 2001 El Hage's poems were translated and published in the contemporary anthology “The poetry of Arab women”, edited by the researcher Nathalie Handal,^[2] and translated into Italian and published in a contemporary anthology edited by Valentina Colombo. Some of her poems have been also translated and published in various French, Spanish, and anthologies. In 2005 she edited Maha Nammour's book about Reiki, "The Energy of the Universe in your Hands".

Poetry and music

Composer and opera singer Hiba Al Kawas composed music for and performed many of her poems as songs, including "Arda", "Lianni Ahya", "Ashamamta Itri", "Salam Al Hurriya", "Njoum Eddini Bi’inaik", and "O Liban Soit Sauvé", which was dedicated to President Jacques Chirac and in his presence, as well as “Visions in Water” a contemporary composition that was written to be played at Opera de Bastille by Neuwe Ensemble. She adapted the lyrics of “All I Ask of You” from “The Phantom of the Opera” to Arabic to be sung by Hiba Al Kawas and José Carreras. Magida El Roumi covered Joseph Khalife's song version of El Hage's poem "Ma Dumtu Ahia" ("As Long as I Live") from her book Rihlat Al Thill (Journey of the Shadow). The two performed a series of music and poetry recitals based on their collaborations together in Lebanon and abroad.^[3]

Since the 1990s Nada El Hage has performed her poetry at Al Madina Theatre in 2000, Beirut Books Exhibition in 2001, Sheikh Ibrahim Centre in Bahrain in 2007, Unesco Palace in 2008, Freikeh Festival in 2008, Lebanese American University in 2009, Cairo Opera House in 2009, Beit El Shier in Bahrain in 2009, and Daraj El Fan in Gimmaizeh 2009.