Nasri Atallah

Nasri Atallah
Nasri Atallah at Keeward Office
Born	Nasri Atallah (1982-11-12) 12 November 1982 London, United Kingdom
Nationality	British and Lebanese
Education	American University of Beirut (BA) School of Oriental and African Studies (MSc)
Notable work	Our Man in Beirut
Spouse(s)	Nour Hage (m. 2015)
Website	nasriatallah.com

Nasri Atallah (born 12 November 1982 in London, England)^[1] is a British-Lebanese author, publisher and media entrepreneur.

Early life

Nasri Atallah was born and grew up in London, United Kingdom, where he attended the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle. His parents, Samir Atallah and May Francis, are both British-Lebanese and were living in London at the time. His father, Samir Atallah, is a prominent Arab author, journalist and thinker, and the winner of many awards for his decades of contribution to Arab literature.^[2][3]

Atallah moved to Beirut for the first time in 1997, finished school and read politics at the American University of Beirut.^[4] He then headed back to London to study for a Masters in International politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies,^[5] completing a dissertation on the Deterritorialization of Identity Through Transnational Media. After some further back and forth, he now resides in Paris, France.

Career

After his studies, Atallah worked at the United Nations Development Programme for 6 months, on the Arab Human Development Report, before joining Energy Intelligence, a company specialised in oil & gas research, when he was an analyst and writer. In 2007, he joined the wealth management firm UBS in London,^[6] before quitting in 2009 to concentrate on creative pursuits.

During a brief stint at JWT as a conceptual copywriter, Atallah kept a blog entitled Our Man in Beirut which earned him notoriety amongst the Lebanese community both in Lebanon and abroad.^[7][8] His often scathing criticism of social mores earned him both fans and detractors. The blog’s success led to a publishing deal with Turning Point books,^[9] and the print version was released in December 2011 in Beirut, with book signings at Waterstones^[10] in London and at the Salon Du Livre de Paris.^[11]

Atallah is Partner and Managing Director of Media & Publishing at Keeward, a creative agency that accompanies and creates projects in the fields of media and technology.^[12][13] Through a joint-venture with the company, he founded a new publishing house, Gate37,^[14] in 2014. It is an innovative New York-based publishing house that aims to bring borderless storytelling to cross-cultural narratives, and tackle issues of identity and territoriality through a mixed-media approach.^[15] He also works on advising startups and artists on storytelling and strategy, and manages artists like The Wanton Bishops,^[16] and Bosaina, with whom he tours extensively.

According to press interviews, Atallah has a second book in the works. While it was supposed to be a fictional revenge fantasy about the excesses of London’s Eurotrash subculture in the mid to late 2000s,^[17] Atallah's focus has shifted and it is now turning into a collection of short stories about Beirut.^[18]

Books

• A Lost Summer: Postcards From Lebanon (Contributor), Saqi Books, 2008 (London, UK) ISBN 978-0863566868
• Our Man in Beirut, Turning Point Books, 2011 (Beirut, Lebanon) ISBN 978-9953021102
• Share This Book (Contributor), SHARE Foundation, 2013 (Belgrade, Serbia), Independently Published^[19]
• Beyrouth, Chroniques et détours by Mashallah News and AMI Collective (Foreword), Tamyras, 2014 (Paris, France) ISBN 9782360860517^[20]

Music Management

From September 2012, Atallah launched the career^[21] of the prominent Lebanese blues rock revival duo, The Wanton Bishops, through his role as their manager at creative incubator Keeward.^[22] He has also worked with Egyptian electro-singer and producer Bosaina, Montreal indie band Wake Island,^[23][24] as well as with Lebanese bands Postcards, Lumi and Who Killed Bruce Lee.

Other Work

Atallah has also written for various publications, including The Guardian,^[25] GQ Magazine,^[26] Time Out, Brownbook^[27] and L'Orient-Le Jour. He also hosted a video series^[28] at the Cannes Film Festival for 35mm From Beirut, where he interviewed leading Lebanese actors and directors such as Razane Jammal, Philippe Aractingi, Darina Al Joundi, Maroun Baghdadi's wife Souraya and Swiss rapper La Gale.

Atallah has also appeared on the BBC^[29] and Al Jazeera English^[30] as a commentator on Middle East affairs.

Personal life

Atallah is married to award-winning Lebanese fashion designer Nour Hage. The couple have been together since 2013.

External links

• Gate37 http://gate-37.com
• Our Man in Beirut http://www.ourmaninbeirut.com
• Nasri Atallah http://www.nasriatallah.com

References

Notes