Frances Fuller, author of 'In Borrowed Houses', was a guest speaker at Elon University, Burlington, N.C., on May 7, 2015. Drawing on thirty years of experience in the Middle East, Fuller addressed a large group of faculty, staff and students in the university’s Numen Lumen Center. Her topic was “Faith and Love in Wartime Lebanon.” She also answered questions from the audience, and following her lecture, the local Barnes and Noble Bookstore handled sales while Fuller signed books.
"My talk," Fuller stated, "was really on 'How to Think About the Middle East'. Lebanon is a microcosm of the Middle East critical to the outcome of the current upheaval which is partly about the inability to live with diversity. The Lebanese have already fought about that and learned that no one is strong enough to subjugate the others. Lebanon is the most diverse country in the Middle East, and they have to live together. It is that or suicide."
"Lebanon's population of four million is trying to take care of two million refugees, and its infrastructure is on the verge of collapse. What the world can do to save Lebanon is to help take care of these refugees. We (Americans) did a lot to help create the mess the Arabs are in, and w can't help solve the problems without acknowledging that. If we don't have any guilt we are not thinking very well."
Told in short episodes, Fuller’s book reveals the alienation, confusion and courage of civilians in the Lebanese civil war, introducing to the reader a variety of real people with whom the author interacts: editors, salesmen, neighbors, refugees, soldiers, missionaries, lawyers, shepherds, artists, students. With these people she works, studies, plays games, prays, laughs and cries, all to the accompaniment of gunfire. Together these small stories tell what war is like for civilians caught on a battlefield, and they create the impression of the Lebanese as a fun-loving, witty, patient and resilient people. They also compose, not a political history, but a historical document of a time and a place.
Critics have praised ‘In Borrowed Houses.’ A judge in the 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards called 'In Borrowed Houses' “…a well written book full of compassion…a captivating story…”. Another reviewer described the book as “Wise, honest, sensitive, funny, heart-wrenching…”. Colin Chapman, lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut said, “….western Christians and Middle Eastern Christians need to read this story…full of remarkable perceptiveness and genuine hope.”
'In Borrowed Houses' took top honors in the 2014 '50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading' book awards. Frances was chosen as the result of her appearance on The Authors Show Radio. She also took a Bronze Medal in the Illumination Book Awards
A video of Fuller's lecture can be viewed on Elon’s Education on Demand website: http://blogs.elon.edu/ondemand/2015/05/07/. Frances Fuller is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at frances0516@att.net. Fuller's book is available at Amazon and other book retailers. More information is available at her website at http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com.
About Elon University:
As noted in Elon University's mission statement, “Preparing students to be global citizens” is central to the mission of Elon University, and it has turned its interfaith chaplaincy into a national model program, serving students of all religious backgrounds and providing activities and lectures that promote dialogue.
About Frances Fuller:
Frances Fuller spent thirty years in the violent Middle East and for twenty-four of those years was the director of a Christian publishing program with offices in Lebanon. While leading the development of spiritual books in the Arabic language, she survived long years of civil war and invasions.
Frances holds degrees in Journalism, Creative Writing and Religious Education, and she studied Arabic at Georgetown University. She and her husband, James Wayne Fuller, live now in the foothills of the Sierras in California. They have five children, ten grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Contact:
Frances Fuller
http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com
frances0516@att.net
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