Apartamento in Paris

At La Pharmacie des Âmes we held a reading with Abdellah Taïa, whose short fiction we just published in issue #31. Translated from French by Emma Ramadan, it tells the story of a homecoming set in the city of Salé, Morocco (also where Abdellah grew up), and was featured in the magazine alongside a sprawling interview by writer Jina Khayyer.

Abdellah showed Jina around his old apartment building (where Edith Piaf also once lived), his storage unit (where his belongings are currently held), the local boulangerie (run by Egyptian bakers on Square Bolivar) and the other spots which have been significant along his journey. It was wonderful to have Jina join Abdellah at the bookshop, to reflect on and continue their conversation among so many friends.

Next, at 0fr Bookshop we opened Reza Shafahi and his son Mamali’s joint exhibition! It presents a number of Mamali’s new flocked epoxy sculptures inspired by his father’s paintings, on display together until August 26.

We’ve just released a title on the 83-year-old artist, featuring hundreds more of his works and sharing his incredible journey, from professional wrestler to gambler to artist. In case you haven’t checked it out yet, the book contains essays by those closest to Reza—his son, collectors of his work, gallerists who have represented him—as well as his own words and the poetry that inspires him. It was edited by Jina, who joined Mamali on the night to celebrate!

And finally, at Soho House we held a panel discussion with Mamali and Jina, moderated by curator and contributor to the book Martha Kirszenbaum.

There was a surprise FaceTime appearance from Reza in Iran, plus a DJ set by previous Apartamento feature Lafawndah, who both read some of the poems featured in Reza Shafahi, the Diary of a Gambler too—classics by Rumi, Khayyam, Saadi, and the more modern Forough Farrokhzad.