#  Translating from the Arabic: Iman Humaydan (author) & Michelle Hartman (translator) in conversation with Luke Leafgren 

 



    ![Songs for Darkness](/sites/g/files/omnuum9116/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2026-04/SongsForDarkness.jpeg?itok=ELrzy7Mw) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **April 23, 2026** 

 03:00PM - 04:30PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS South, Rm S354**  

 [1730 Cambridge St  
Cambridge, MA 02138  
United States



 ](<https://www.google.com/maps?q=US MA Cambridge 02138 1730 Cambridge St>) 



 

 



 

**The Mahindra Rethinking Translation Seminar** presents a conversation with

**Iman Humaydan**, author, and **Michele Hartman**, translator, of *Songs for Darkness*, an epic novel that intertwines a narration focused on four generations of Lebanese women’s lives with the major historical and political events of the twentieth century from the eve of World War I to the 1982 Lebanon War.

**Iman Humaydan** is a Lebanese novelist and the president of the Lebanese chapter of PEN.

**Michelle Hartman** is a literary translator and professor of Arabic literature at McGill University.

**Luke Leafgren** is an Assistant Dean at Harvard College and a translator of several Arabic novels into English.

Event funded by the Mahindra Re-thinking Translation Seminar and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University.

**Contact:** <snaddaff@fas.harvard.edu>



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Ad Hoc or Co-Sponsored ](/eventseries/ad-hoc-or-co-sponsored)
- [ Literature ](/research-field/literature)
- [ Levant ](/research-region/levant)
- [ 2025-26 ](/academic-year/2025-26)
 
 

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