The slogan of this week's 16th Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) is "To see what the world is reading." The BIBF is now considered by many as one of the top four International Book Fairs in the World. Keeping in line with that spirit we thought we’d introduce you to one of our favourite Lebanese novelists whose work rises above the gap between the Western reader and Arab culture: Rabih Alameddine. His masterpiece has to be his fourth and last book The Hakawati which is constructed like a frame tale, with the likes of “A thousand and one nights”. Osama Al Kharrat arrives from LA to Lebanon to visit his ailing father, himself the son of a “Hakawati”, a story teller.  There, he and his family tell each other old family stories, legends and jokes during the weeks of their watch. The tales themselves are both absorbing and ageless, and whereas his first books had some loose ends, The Hakawati is the novel of a man who knows every little hinge of his narrative. As other writers using English as a second Language (such as Kerouac, or Nabokov) Alameddine is conscious of every little nuance and his writing is melodic and rhythmic. If you’re just starting to get acquainted with Lebanese literature, Mr Alameddine’s books are a good place to start.