[Recruitment Starts April 6] Author Maha Harada Recruits 2nd Cohort for Online Community Salon 'Mahalíque'

We are pleased to announce the start of recruitment for new members, the second cohort of the online community salon 'Mahalíque' launched in the fall of 2025 by author Maha Harada on the community-dedicated platform 'OSIRO' (provided by OSIRO Inc.). 'Mahalíque' is a creative place where people who resonate with Maha Harada's sensibilities and works can converse, interact, and where new stories are born. 'Let's live in this same era together.' The online community salon 'Mahalíque' started with this invitation. Community members actively interact with each other every day, and I continue to send 'Letters from Maha,' sharing my daily realizations and behind-the-scenes stories of my creative process in a diary format to the members from all over Japan, and sometimes from Paris. In the 'Art Lectures,' where I focus on the painters who serve as motifs for my novels, there are enthusiastic exchanges with participants every time. The joy of connecting live, and the special time of occasionally meeting face-to-face at offline gatherings. I truly feel that modest conversations, small experiences, and little realizations are the magic that makes each person's life more enjoyable. We will soon start recruiting for the second cohort. I wonder what kind of encounters await this time. I look forward to your participation. Maha Harada ■ Concept of 'Mahalíque' Celebrating her 20th anniversary since her debut, Maha Harada continues her diverse activities centered around art novels. Mahalíque aims to be a warm, creative space where participants can share small daily discoveries and happiness by touching upon Maha Harada's works and actual creative activities, leading to new encounters and stories. Centered around art lectures explained by Maha Harada herself, we offer numerous programs to learn about art as a close 'friend.' We also hold offline events where participants can discuss art directly with Maha Harada. ■ About 'Maha Harada's Art Lectures' Become friends with art through your own sensibilities. A place for learning art that begins with sensitivity and resonance, navigated by Maha Harada as the instructor. Using her own art novels as assigned reading, she unravels the lives of artists, the art historical background, and the thoughts embedded in their works. The second term of the Art Lecture series (May 2026 - October 2026) will use 'Tayutaedomo Shizumazu' (Fluctuat nec mergitur) as the subject, focusing on the challenge of the Van Gogh brothers and Tadamasa Hayashi in Paris. Japanese art dealer Tadamasa Hayashi and his assistant Jukichi Kano, who were active in Paris. And Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo, who also struggled to create new expressions in the Parisian art world. Using this art fiction piece—which depicts the encounter, friendship, struggles, and parting of these four men in the turbulent late 19th-century Paris—as a text, the lecture will delve into the Post-Impressionist era, the rise of Japonisme, and the interwoven stories of Van Gogh, Theo, and Hayashi.