disclaimer: i always make fun of men who pose like this for their social networking photos. i call it the ‘i own’ pose. like if he’s standing in front of the grand canyon doing this, i imagine he’s thinking: i own the grand canyon. or in front of a mcdonald’s: i own mcdonald’s. this is not what i’m doing here. this here is me caught in a moment of what seems to be a little ‘i’m so excited this is over’ dance that i did when i was done with my talk. photo by khaled al-baijan

fashion designer rayya morcos’ talk ‘call for revolution. rayya is someone who feels like a kindred spirit, so i’ll definitely be contacting her next time i’m in beirut

i missed many lectures that day because i couldn’t sit still. so i’m skipping straight to my talk at 6pm that night. photo by medi sultan

i haven’t seen my talk yet and this post isn’t really about that. there will be a post specific to it as soon nuqat posts it on youtube. photo by mishari alnajjar

there are glitches but apparently no one notices. photo by laura boushnak

me and my eves, both live and inanimate. photo by laura boushnak

once i’m done talking about my ‘traveling tap’, i relax a little. photo by laura boushnak

zainab and a storybook drawing. photo by laura boushnak

meanwhile, this is going on backstage. backstage photos taken by nida khan, courtesy of phoebe al salem

georgia, phoebe, fatima, dalal f. and sara

it all goes by so fast! my eves are incredible. they stay in character all throughout. unlike me, um eve (mother of eve, what many are calling me now). photo by khaled al-baijan

me and my super duper eves. one of too many selfies tonight

i think everyone at this point is ecstatic it’s over. what a buzz!

viviana eve and baby eve in her mommy belly. i don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, but whichever, i’m calling the baby eve

eve escapes

mai, me, fatima and dalal

these are a few of my favorite eves. and honorary eve, my son yousef. photo courtesy of farah khajah

fellow chair lovers manar moursi and david puig present their book ‘sidewalk salon: 1001 street chairs of cairo’. it’s fascinating and makes my heart race. and i’m going to attend their book launch in cairo this january

i buy three copies of their book (and feel like a huge hog because i find out later that they only brought ten copies with them). here manar signs my copy

taking notes

one of many photos of laura and me today. and of course it’s a selfie

hanging out backstage

two geeks with books and photographer tarek al ghossein

i lose my phone for a while so can’t take any photos. luckily for me, laura’s got hers. helmy el-touni signs my copy of yasmine taan’s book about his works

instead of writing words, he draws my portrait. how lucky am i?

later on it’s dinner at dar hamad in salmiya. the food is delicious

sarah thelwall and her birds

rayya morcos and her bird

the alhamad sisters. sarah is my london sister and author of ‘cardamom and lime’ and ‘sun bread and sticky toffee:date desserts from everywhere’. laila is founder of zeri crafts. i hold a special nook in my heart for both

photographer laura boushnak kicks off a trifecta of pre-coffee-break lectures saturday morning. she talks about her ‘i read/i write’ initiative. and i’m proud to call her one of my besties

jason steel captivates the audience with slides from his students’ work. he says, ‘just be’, and i agree whole-heartedly with him

the trilogy ends with comics researcher nadim damluji. i have a soft spot for nadim because he is the spitting image of my son khaled. but after i hear his talk, i just like him for who he is and what he has to say. bravo, nadim!

k’s doppelganger commands the audience and i’m strangely proud

another excellent lecture is tarek naga’s ‘the revenge of mediocrity’. is it just me, or does that say ‘google’?

naga concludes with an epilogue to his talk: the revenge of adam. photo by muna algharabally

but as always, eve prevails. photo by muna algharabally

last minute nuqat recruit ted beagles discusses homage in film. very enjoyable and thought-provoking