A finalist for the Nebula Award for his short fiction, Saladin Ahmed has ventured into novel-length works with , out this month from DAW Books. The novel is a lovely blend of adventure and intrigue, with a definite element of the horrific. In a land of d

Sublimation is a psychological process in which socially unacceptable impulses are transformed into something less destructive, explains Weaam El-Masry, a fiery Egyptian artist, as she unloads a truckload of her watercolor nudes for sale in a central Cai

A protester hurls a rock in post-Port Said protests (Source: Reuters) The deaths of 74 militant soccer fans in a politically loaded soccer brawl in the Egyptian Suez Canal city of Port Said has political forces across the country’s political spectrum scr

I would start with The Dawn of Conscience by James Henry Breaste. It’s old – published in 1933 – but then what it deals with is even older! It’s a brilliant introduction to Ancient Egyptian life and thought – and its continued relevance today. The Crusad

Egyptians call the Sphinx “abu hol,” the father of terror. But the real father of terror for women in the country is fear of rape. The threat of sexual violation has long been a tool keeping women from going to the public square to demand their political

Clearly concerned about the increasing influence of political Islamic groups, Egyptian artists and intellectuals vowed to sacrifice their lives to defend freedom of expression, reports Khaled Dawoud The main conference hall at the Press Syndicate was pac

Working as a professional translator of Arabic literature for only a little under a decade, Humphrey Davies has already staked up a number of literary prizes. He talked to David Tresilian in Cairo "Translation is an intrinsically lonely task," says Humph

Images of naked Pharaohs on Egypt’s temples are tantamount to heresy, prominent Salafist Abdel Moneim El-Shahat said on Wednesday. El-Shahat, who failed to win an independent seat for the Nour Party in recent parliamentary elections, had previously calle

The New York Times chats with Miral al-Tahawy about her book Brooklyn Heights: A Modern Arabic Novel : NYT : The central character in the book, “Brooklyn Heights,” is a single mother named Hend. She has one son and struggles with loneliness, exhaustion a

CAIRO — The Egyptian novelist Miral al-Tahawy withdrew from the international literary and cultural scene in 2005 and returned at age 37 to the Nile Delta village of her birth. For more than two years, she slept in her childhood room and cared for her ca

Although only half the novels I read in 2011 counted towards Challenges, I suspect I made some decisions based on speed of completion, and in doing so vaguely confirmed my suspicion of Challenges. So Resolution One is Read More Big Books. 'Big' is not ea

BEIRUT: A cottage industry in books about the Arab Spring is already well under way, despite the fact that most of the revolutions in the region are still incomplete, compromised, thwarted or stuck. Those responding to the chain of events set off by Moha

The pyramids at Giza are the most stunning sight I have ever seen. True, their lonely eminence is threatened by Cairo's unlicensed building sprawl, with half completed houses inching their way towards them. Surveying them at night as the calls to prayer

Cairo, Egypt—Naguib Mahfouz, the great Egyptian novelist and Nobel laureate, once observed that revolutions are “plotted by the clever, fought by the brave, and profited from by cowards.” It’s a wise line that only gains further credence from the current

"Sotheby's announcement that it had scheduled a 'highly significant archive' of work by Nobel literature laureate Naguib Mahfouz for auction this Thursday has sparked vigorous debate in the author's native Egypt." The Guardian (UK) 12/14/11

At centenary celebrations thrown for the author on Sunday, writers and publishers traded questions. Who was the seller? And how did they obtain this collection, which includes family photographs, early manuscripts, late work, and 100 pages of an unpublis

ANHRI celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of the international Egyptian writer, Naguib Mahfouz, who was born on 11 December 1911 and died on 30 August 2006. Mahfouz is one of the most famous Egyptian writers, especially after winning the 1988 N

The Grifters by Jim Thompson - Perhaps watching the film version of The Killer Inside Me drove my interest when earlier this year I decided to hold a Jim Thompson noirfest. It was time t... Librarians: How to get ARCs - Book bloggers are pretty s

The end of the world is supposed to be fun. Stories of the apocalypse allow a certain dark form of escapism. They allow the reader to indulge in a fantasy life the same way classic thrillers, mysteries, westerns and romances do. Throw all the weapons