Café-lecture Rester ou partir à Villers-Cotterêts

Let me take you to the Cité internationale de la langue française, the international centre for the French language in Villers-Cotterêts, on Saturday 28 November 2026 at 11 am, in the Chêne room. The title means stay or leave.

As writer in residence at the Cité, Kamal Hakim shares an early version of his work in progress with the audience: a graphic novel built as an investigation. It starts on a night in August 1982 in Beirut, when his uncle Karim and his friend Rima were murdered after a car chase along the seafront. Forty years later, the author sets out to understand this killing, for which there is no police report, as is the case for all the victims of the Lebanese civil war of 1975 to 1990.

Born in Beirut in 1980, Kamal Hakim is a comic book writer and illustrator. He studied political science at the American University of Beirut, then published his first graphic novel, Le temps des Grenades, in 2015, an autobiographical account of his family's story. The event is run in partnership with the Maison internationale des écrivains in Beirut.

Admission is free, booking required. The event lasts 1h30, with unreserved seating.