SPEAKER: JEAN NAGGAR | ENTERTAINER: MARK JANAS

SPEAKER: JEAN NAGGAR

A Modern-Day Exodus Out of Egypt—to New York

Jean Naggar returns to Dutch Treat to discuss her new historical novel Footprints on the Heart, a family dynastic novel of love, loss, and exile over six decades from Egypt to New York. There are echoes of her own family’s life, history, and exile from Egypt in the Suez Crisis of 1956. Her novel is a classic of the literature of exile genre. The writer, poet, and the memoirist of the acclaimed Sipping from the Nile: My Exodus from Egypt, has drawn on her own personal family history of exile and loss.

ENTERTAINER: MARK JANAS

MARK JANAS began his piano studies at age of three, composed a sonatina at 5, and by high school was conducting the Hammond Area Youth Orchestra. While a senior at Indiana, he was chosen by Leonard Bernstein to conduct at festivals in Israel and Austria. He performed all over the United States as associate conductor for two national tours of Les Misérables, as well as being Musical Director for the Yale Repertory Theatre, Hippodrome State Theatre and Arkansas Repertory Theatre. His client list includes such stars as Len Cariou, Liz Robertson & Kathleen Turner. He is a Two-Time Bistro Award Winner – one for Outstanding Achievement as Musical Director and one for creating Salon, a unique, weekly open mic event. He is an Eight-Time MAC Award Winner – six for being Salon’s Founder & Artistic Director, one for Best Host, and one for Best Song.