About Us

William Dobson & Niamh Fleming-Farrell, Aaliya's Books owners, September 2016

We founded Aaliya's Books in 2016 after we found ourselves, happily intoxicated, discussing Lebanese writer Rabih Alameddine's novel An Unnecessary Woman on a balcony at a Burns Night party. In the novel, the main character is 72-year-old Aaliya, who, when the narrative begins, has just accidentally dyed her hair blue (possibly as a result of diminished concentration due to the two glasses of wine she's downed). Aaliya, we learn as the novel progresses, has spent most of her life running a bookshop in Beirut while quietly translating great works of literature into Arabic, and much less quietly being driven demented by her gossipy neighbours and her 90-something-year-old mother. Aaliya is tough, sharp witted and deeply, deliciously, and occasionally quite pompously, literary. Midway through talking about her that night one of us said to the other, "Wouldn't it be fun to have a bookshop in Beirut." Over lunch a few days later we pledged to not only talk about it, but actually do it. And when we opened Aaliya's Books eight months later, only one name felt right to put above the door.

Between September 2016 and December 2024, Aaliya's Books evolved from a little bookshop with a biweekly bookclub into a café, bar, community hub and event space. In addition to selling new and used books, it hosted an array of literary, musical and other cultural events. In March 2023, it became home to live recordings of The Beirut Banyan podcast and later it debuted Wael Taleb's On the Rocks podcast. Live jazz with the Friday Night Bookshop Band became as yearslong staple, as did Monday night lindy hop dancing with Beirut Swing. To fuel it all, we ate, drank and served as much local produce as we could, working with the bounty of Lebanon's soil, climate and producers (especially its wine producers).  

Of course, like so many of our neighbours on Gouraud Street and in the surrounding areas, we've faced the many hardships of Lebanon's recent past — from currency collapse, to pandemic lockdown, to the devastation of the Aug. 4, 2020, port explosion, to fuel and electricity shortages …. to the war between Hezbollah and Israel between October 2023 and November 2024.

In December 2024, after a year of so much heartbreak, injustice and anger in the region, but as tiny green shoots of hope began to appear, we took the tough decision to close our doors on Gouraud Street and reassess our business model. While we reassess, we continue to work to bring Aaliya's moments to our community in Lebanon and elsewhere, through various events and activities.