Nada El Hage

Nada El Hage ( Arabic: ندى الحاج) ( Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese Poet, writer and journalist.

Biography and Career

Nada El Hage is the daughter of the Lebanese Poet Ounsi el-Hajj. She completed her high school education in Beirut before she headed to Paris to major in Philosophy in the Sorbonne University. She returned to Beirut to engage in an acting experience with the stage director Raymond Jebara. In the 1980s she translated several plays from French to Lebanese language. 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 in cultural pages of both “An-Nahar” and “Al Hayat” newspapers, and the weekly newspaper “Dalil An Nahar”. Currently she is the Advisor of Mrs. Hiba Al Kawas, and she holds the position of COO and Vice President of HKI ( Hiba Al Kawas International Inc.).

Poetry

“Dar An Nahar” published poetry books for Nada El Hage:

• “Prayer in the Wind” 1988
• “Fingers of the Soul” 1994
• “Journey of the Shadow” 1999
• “All this Love” 2001
• “Forest of Light” 2002
• “With the lightness of a Falling Moon” 2006
• "Veils of Passion" 2010

Books and Translations

• Few of her poems have been translated and published in a contemporary Anthology, “The poetry of Arab women”, edited by the researcher Nathalie Handal.^[2]
• Few of her poems have been translated to Italian and published in a contemporary Anthology, by Valentina Colombo.
• Some of her poems have been also translated and published in French, Spanish and Anthologies.
• She edited Maha Nammour’s book about Reiki in 2005 called “The Energy of the Universe in your Hands”.

Her Poetry and Music

Hiba Al Kawas the composer and opera singer, composed music to many of her poems and sang them, of these Songs: Arda, Lianni Ahya, Ashamamta Itri, Salam Al Hurriya, Njoum Eddini Bi’inaik, 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 to Arabic the Lyrics of “All I ask of you” from “The Phantom of the Opera” to be Sang by Hiba Al Kawas and Jose Carreras. Magida El Roumi sang of Joseph Khalife’s Music, Nada El Hage poem “Ma Dumtu Ahia” ( As Long as I live) from her book “Rihlat Al Thill” (Journey of the Shadow).

As a team, Nada El Hage and the composer & Opera Singer Hiba Al Kawas, they compose and perform in a series of music and poetry recitals in Lebanon and abroad.^[3]

Since the nineties Nada El Hage performed her poetry on various stages and through different cultural movements & festivals such as, Al Madina Theatre 2000, Beirut Books Exihibition 2001, Sheikh Ibrahim Centre- Bahrain 2007, Unesco Palace 2008, Freikeh Festival 2008, Lebanese American University 2009, Cairo Opera House 2009, Beit El Shier- Bahrain 2009, Daraj El Fan- Gimmaizeh 2009.

Notes and references

1. ^ http://www.neelwafurat.com/itempage.aspx?id=lbb32424-30702&search=books
2. ^ Arab Women Poetry-Nathalie Handal
3. ^ http://www.hiba-alkawas.com/default.aspx?id=Biography

External links

• Official website of Nada El Hage