Lebanese novelist staunchly defends civil marriage

Novelist, journalist and critic May Manci dropped in to the cultural Dialogue of the Mind programme on Friday. In an insightful and revealing interview, the novelist said: "I am for civil marriage. If I were 20 again, I would marry in a civil ceremony because I suffered throughout my church-sanctioned marriage and my divorce." “Clergymen discriminate between men and women as if women were Satan himself,” she claimed. Manci told host Abi Tamer that she has never voted in her life. "Why should I, if I own nothing in my hometown?” she said, referring to the forced displacement of residents from her local area. Drawing on her critical work in recent years, Manci claimed her strategy was to avoid being “hurtful.” As for literature, Manci said her novels are always based on society and real life.