About this Event
The event will include a discussion of the translation process, especially the tricky business of translating culture and sensitive language.
In this autobiographical coming of age novel, 17-year-old Rim is caught smoking out her window in her home in Marrakesh, Morocco. This minor transgression unleashes the fury of her mother who flies into a rage and demands that Rim complete a gynecological test certifying her virginity. So begins a nuanced journey into the tangled web of a patriarchal society in which various generations of women seem to complicitly preserve the status quo. Ultimately, it is Rim who breaks the cycle of dysfunction, rebels against tradition, confronts betrayal from the women closest to her, and dares to be her true self.
is a poet, journalist, and artist. She is the author of multiple poetry collections in French, including L’eau du bain, Vingt poèmes et des poussières, Latex, and Pommes girl. Her novel, Je me regarderai dans les yeux (which Galiot Press will be publishing in English this November as I’ll Look Myself in the Eyes), won the 2025 prix de la littérature arabe des lycéens and was a finalist for the main Arab literature prize in France. Her newest novel, Le chaos infini qui nous sépare, will be published in January 2027. Battal splits her time between Paris and Rabat.
is a translator based in Centerport, NY and Rockport, MA. In addition to I’ll Look Myself in the Eyes, she has also translated Hélène Hérault’s One Way (Silent Clamor Press) and received a 2026 Villa Albertine translation grant for Rim Battal’s L’eau du bain. Liza has also translated numerous non-fiction books for publishers including Rizzoli, Assouline, and Schiffer Books. Her poetry translations have appeared in the Cordite Poetry Review and the International Poetry Review.
Event venue & nearby stays
Cambridge Common House, 2 Garden Street, Cambridge, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.