Lebanese identity prevails in New York... Lebanon succeeds in correcting the attribution of Mahjar writers in New York

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants issued the following statement:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, acting on direct instructions from Minister Youssef Rajji and through the diligent follow-up of the Lebanese Consulate General in New York, has succeeded in correcting the text placed on the memorial dedicated to honoring the leading Mahjar writers and poets, founders of the Pen League, in Elizabeth Berger Plaza in New York City.

The text had wrongly identified the national identity of these pioneers, describing them as “Syrian writers,” while disregarding their authentic Lebanese affiliation, despite the fact that among them were prominent names that left a lasting mark on Arabic émigré literature: Mikhail Naimy, Gibran Khalil Gibran, Amin Rihani, and Elia Abu Madi. Through their writings and intellectual and artistic works, they carried Lebanon’s name to the world and formed a fundamental pillar of the Arab literary renaissance in the diaspora since the founding of the Pen League in 1920.

Following intensive contacts conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the relevant authorities in New York through its Consulate General there, the old identification plaque accompanying the “Al Qalam: Poets in the Park” project was removed and replaced with a new plaque whose text includes the required correction, accurately defining the Lebanese identity of these writers in a manner consistent with historical and cultural facts.”