Interview with longlisted author Iman Humaydan

When did you begin writing Songs for the Darkness and where did the inspiration for it come from?

Since my previous novel, The Weight of Paradise, came out, I wanted to write a novel that recounts the modern history of Lebanon as seen and narrated by women. History is usually written by men and the pressing question I had was: How would a woman narrate our history? She would have narrated it without leaving out the daily violence that women lived and continue to live. In her narrative, women would be at the heart of this history. I began the project in 2020. I first had to conduct research about Lebanon’s modern history and post-independence era as well as women’s narrative and their relationship to producing and transferring knowledge from one generation of women to another. The research process took me approximately one year, during which I read history and sociology books. I also searched the memoirs of politicians and biographies of pioneering women for the presence of women and their role in my country’s history.

Did the novel take long to write and where were you when you finished it?

Writing (after I was done researching) took about two years. I was living between France and Lebanon. I finished the final draft in the summer of 2023 in Paris.

Do you have writing rituals?

I don’t have any set, specific rituals. They change with the seasons and with my daily life. I tend to wake up early and like to write in the morning hours. But when I feel the need to write, I don’t care about time or place. Sometimes I wake up at night with an idea related to one of the characters or solving a problem in the narrative that I faced during the day. I don’t let the thought pass without writing it down, and I don’t wait until the morning; I sit at my desk, even if it’s midnight, and begin writing.

What is your next literary project after this novel?

Writing is a life project and it becomes integral to a writer’s identity. I am certainly continuing to write. Right now, I am doing research for a new novel that would be the sequel to Songs for the Darkness. My women still have a lot to tell. The forgotten history of their lives is full of stories!