Maalouf joins French Academy ceremony

The French Academy nominated Lebanese novelist and journalist Amin Maalouf to join the prestigious institution. Elected on June 23rd as the successor of Claude Levi-Strauss on seat 29, Amin Maalouf said that this was a great joy and that ceremonies of him joining the academy were more majestic than any others. \"I shall be enjoying festivities much better when they be turned into a lustrous memory. Living the moment would be quandary. But I have chosen this hence, I shall try to traverse it without allowing stress to stifle my happiness,\" Maalouf told the AFP. Culture Minister Gabi Layyoun left Beirut today and headed to France\'s capital, Paris, to attend the event which is scheduled to take place tomorrow (Thursday). Amin Maalouf shall be the first Lebanese writer to join the elite of writers and immortal philosophers.