seizure of power. Her 2017 [Why I became a terrorist] came two years after the Paris terrorist attacks, it follows a Spanish student's descent into extremism. Elayi's 2018 novel [Arwad, a drifting Syrian island] draws parallels between the fall of the insular Phoenician city of Arwad and war-time Syria. In 2019 Elayi published Ange Garelli where the Corsican protagonist is haunted by the discovery of a secret linking him to Napoleon Bonaparte. Personal life Elayi is married to Alain-Gérard Elayi, a Lebanese nuclear scientist; they have two children together. Personal views and activism Elayi who had a rocky relationship with the CNRS launched an attack against what she described as the CNRS of corporatism, ambiguity, and bias under the guise of scientific democracy when evaluating French research. She accused the CNRS of making errors of judgment in the recruitment and promotion of researchers and scientific teams, leading to the deterioration of the quality of French research. This crisis was particularly marked after the 2002 and 2003 CNRS budget cuts causing worsening researcher working conditions and the decline of their financial resources. Elayi committed to system reform. She took on media outlets and issued two books where she elaborated her views on CNRS research dysfunctions and proposed a better distribution of credits based on a correct assessment of the competence of researchers. Elayi was consulted by successive research ministers in an effort to create the Agency for the Evaluation of Research and Higher education which saw the light in 2007. Elayi is a vocal defender of the teaching of classical languages, which was threatened by curriculum reforms spearheaded by then-Minister of National education and research Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. The reforms proposed to replace Latin and Greek classes by an "initiation to ancient languages" course within the French courses, and to integrate the teaching of these two languages within the French literature courses. Elayi criticized the lack of a timetable, a program, funding or continuity and expressed indignation that teaching of classical languages would be left to non-specialized teachers and to the discretion of headmasters. Despite nation-wide polemic the bill was passed in August 2016. Awards and distinctions In 1995 the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres awarded Elayi with the Gregor Mendel prize for her work on coin economy and circulation in Phoenicia and the Ancient Near-East in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Six years later, the academy awarded Elayi and