Happy as an Arab in Paris
Wanis El Kabbaj fondly reminisces about his father's elation while in Paris and the profound significance the city held for him.
Wanis El Kabbaj
Wanis El Kabbaj is a globally-minded marketing professional with dual French-Moroccan citizenship. Having grown up in a family fond of literature and around books of Amin Maalouf, Taha Hussein, Naguib Mahfouz, he developed a deep appreciation for powerful storytelling. which drove him to deliver two TED Talks on the future of urban transportation and the ambivalent relationship between nationalisms and globalization that garnered 6 million views worldwide. Wanis champions equitable environments, fostering collaboration and driving positive change.
Jordan Elgrably is an American, French and Moroccan writer and translator whose stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in many anthologies and reviews, including Apulée, Salmagundi, and the Paris Review. Editor-in-chief and founder of The Markaz Review, he is the cofounder and former director of the Levantine Cultural Center/The Markaz in Los Angeles (2001–2020). He is the editor of Stories From the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction (City Lights 2024), and co-editor with Malu Halasa of Sumūd: a New Palestinian Reader (Seven Stories Press 2025). Based in Montpellier, France and California, he tweets at Blue Sky.