Google Doodle honors Etel Adnan Lebanese American poet

Google paid tribute to the renowned Lebanese American poet and visual artist Etel Adnan with a captivating doodle on its homepage. Adnan, known for her profound poetry and abstract artwork, was celebrated for her contributions to literature and art across the globe.

Born in Beirut in 1925, Adnan's work often explored themes of identity, war, and exile. Her unique perspective as a woman of Lebanese and Greek descent resonated with audiences worldwide. Through her powerful words and vibrant paintings, she captured the complexities of human emotions and experiences.

Google is celebrating the legacy of late Lebanese American writer and painter Etel Adnan with an illustration on its homepage. The artwork—from the series known as Google Doodles—depicts the artist at her desk, paintbrush in hand, framed by the fruit of her 50-year-long career: painted interpretations of the sun, sea, and mountains as jewel-toned geometries; and a prodigious body of writing on the legacy of war, national and diasporic identity, and feminism in the Arabic-speaking world.

In addition to recognizing her literary achievements, the graphic illustration also features references to her leporello works (accordion-style printed materials with alternating folds) and her strong connection to her Lebanese heritage, as displayed through the inclusion of the nation’s flag in the background. 

Although Adnan spent many years of her life living in the US and France, she always retained strong ties to her home country. She met her life-long partner Simone Fattal in 1972 after returning to Beirut to work as a journalist, but was forced to flee to Paris three years later when civil war broke out. She based her best-selling novel Sitt Marie Rose (1978) on the true story of Marie Rose Boulos, who was abducted and executed by a Christian militiaman.

She continued: “I had a purely literary education, very literary. But that helps in doing another kind of art. Whether it be music or poetry, it helps. It trains you. They’re the same problems. They’re problems of composition and of confidence.

“When you walk down the street, you don’t think about the next step. You just go for it. It’s the same with work. You begin and you continue. You must have confidence. You can’t have criticism intervening during the work. You have to leave criticism for later on. And then you need a certain modesty. This is what I can do. I’m obliged to accept it. It’s me.”

Adnan identified as a lesbian in her later years and spent much of her life with the Lebanese-American artist, Simone Fattal.

She died in Paris on 14 November 2021, at the age of 96.

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Sarah H

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