Egyptian literature
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Literature versus realityAuthor Mansoura Ez-Eldin: Chasing fata morganas
She fought for renewal and lost her illusions. In a very personal text, Egyptian writer Mansoura Ez-Eldin explains how literature accompanied her through a time of radical change
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Waguih Ghali′s diariesThe writer′s torment
Following his suicide in 1969, the private diaries of Egyptian writer Waguih Ghali, known for his one best-selling novel, ″Beer in the Snooker Club″, were preserved. Surviving only as copies, they were made available through Cornell University in 2014. May Hawas has now deciphered Ghali′s sometimes drunken scrawl and compiled his journals into two eminently readable volumes. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the first
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Niqab-wearing novelists in EgyptYour philosophy, my religion
In Egypt, novels written by women who wear the face-veil are gaining in popularity, despite the fact that literary critics point to their religious ideological slant and literary weaknesses. By Sameh Fayez
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Cairo′s mobile libraryBringing books to the people
A cargo of books and a smart tricycle fitted with bookshelves: with these simple means, Hadeer Mansour und Mohammad launched their project – a small mobile library that travels through the neighbourhoods of the Egyptian capital Cairo. By Islam Anwar
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Cairo′s mobile libraryBringing books to the people
A cargo of books and a smart tricycle fitted with bookshelves: with these simple means, Hadeer Mansour und Mohammad launched their project – a small mobile library that travels through the neighbourhoods of the Egyptian capital Cairo. By Islam Anwar
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Book review: Kamal Ruhayyim′s ″Menorahs and Minarets″The unchangeable past
A haze of nostalgia pervades ″Menorahs and Minarets″ (2017), the third and final novel in an ambitious trilogy by Egyptian author Kamal Ruhayyim. All three books have now been ably translated into English by Sarah Enany. Marcia Lynx Qualey has the details
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The 20th anniversary of Latifa al-Zayyat′s deathDauntless to the end
Her book "Al-Bab al-Maftooh" (The Open Door), published in 1960, made Latifa al-Zayyat famous overnight. Her reputation as a feminist writer was sealed by the film version of the novel, starring the legendary actress Faten Hamama (at the time, the wife of Omar Sharif). By Sherif Abdel Samad
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Remembering Naguib Mahfouz″A wave of light on an infinite ocean of darkness″
30 August 2016 marks the tenth anniversary of Naguib Mahfouz′ death. Widely regarded as the father of the Arab novel, the Egyptian author won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988: ″through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous″. A volume of his early non-fiction work has recently been published. Marcia Lynx Qualey gives her impressions
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Interview with the Egyptian author Youssef Rakha"Taken together, these things would make up home..."
The Egyptian poet, essayist, novelist and journalist Youssef Rakha moves between two worlds. He aims to show his Western readers an eclectic Cairo beyond common cliches. Interview by Susanne Schanda
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Book review: Basma Abdel Aziz′s ″The Queue″Disturbingly prescient
Were George Orwell′s ″1984″ to meet and mingle with the rich, detailed portrait of Cairo in Naguib Mahfouz′s ″Trilogy″, the two would birth a novel something like Basma Abdel Aziz′s ″The Queue″. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the book
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Interview with the Egyptian poet Iman MersalCrossing a universal threshold
Iman Mersal, part of Egypt′s 90s generation, is one of the most interesting voices in contemporary Arabic poetry. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages, with poems from her much-awaited ″Until I Give Up the Idea of Houses″ (2013) currently being rendered into English by Robyn Creswell. Interview by Marcia Lynx Qualey
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Religion and freedom of expressionThe birth of a new theocracy?
Following the Arabellion, controversial pluralistic debates on questions of morality or religion were no longer taboo in Egypt. But such discursive freedom has proved short-lived; the tide has turned. These days, the tone adopted by Egypt's regime is more highly charged with religious rhetoric than ever and the goal is clear: to wrest back control of social discourse. Meanwhile Egypt's justice system is playing along and restricting freedom of expression. Sofian Philip Naceur reports from Cairo