Literary Evening
We are delighted to offer our members another stunning evening at 7pm at the Army and Navy Club,36-39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN . We are presenting 4 books plus a short recital by an extremely talented Young Chilean Guitarist from the Royal College of Music. Each presentation will be for about 20 minutes.
Professor Doris Abou-Seif Behrens retired recently as theNasser D Khalili Chair of Islamic Art and Archaeology at SOAS. I have known Doris for many years and she is never less than an enthralling speaker as her many students will testify. Previous books of hers include “Minarets of Cairo”, Cairo of The Mamluks”, “Beauty in Arabic Culture:” and “Islamic Architecture of Cairo”. Her book this time is “Practicing Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate”. Doris will illustrate her talk with slides.
Gerhard Behrens’ life as a student, during his active work and lately as a novelist, has been centered on the Middle East. After studying in universities in Germany and Egypt he was employed by academic institutions and the government in Germany. He then made a career as a banker and as a businessman working in Egypt and Germany. Dr. Behrens now lives in London, where after his retirement he started to write crime novels with a decidedly Middle Eastern background. They are realistic and humorous, not breathless thrillers with more action than mystery. They aim at an audience who loves classical whodunits with an exotic touch.
Emmanuel Sowicz Garcia is a very talented guitarist and came to the Royal College of Music from Chile last summer. Her mother is a dear friend, a respected artists in Chile, and I met her in Cairo and Alexandria when she lived there during my time as Midland Bank Representative, Middle East based in Cairo in the early 1980’s. This will be his 1st public performance in London.
The Countess of Carnarvon is the wife of the 8th Earl; it was the 5th Earl who, with Howard Carter, discovered the Tutankhamun tomb. In July 2011, very kindly she allowed a group of our members to visit Highclere Castle and its remarkable Tutankhamun exhibition. Highclere has achieved recent fame as it was the location of “Downton Abbey”. Lady Carnarvon, a remarkable Chatelaine in her own right, will talk about her books on two of her equally illustrious predecessors, including the wife of the 5th Earl. She will illustrate her talk, also, with slides and is a compelling speaker.
The books (Signed by each author if you wish) will be on sale after the talks. Wine and soft drinks will be served.
