Mursi Saad El-Din
I am a great believer in the importance of history as an integral part on any school curriculum. I am also an avid reader of history books, not only about Egypt but about other countries as well. This is why I followed with (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
Julia Samson wrote about Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. I would like to expound the author's theory about writing history. Historians, she says, have always seen biography as part of history. History is a mixture of environmental, (...)
On a recent boat trip between Luxor and Aswan in Upper Egypt, Mursi Saad El-Din remembers when the Nile was the top attraction for travellers, especially the British
Last month I followed the footsteps of English travellers along the banks of the (...)
Congratulations to Al-Ahram Weekly 's very own columnist Mursi Saad El-Din, who was honoured by Egypt Today magazine on the occasion of celebrating its 25th anniversary at a glorious celebration at the Cairo Marriott Hotel. Having witnessed the (...)
We are today witnessing remarkable activity in the re-writing of Egyptian history. Mursi Saad El-Din provides an Egyptian perspective of the life of one of the country's great rulers
The need is being felt to re-evaluate important events and (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
Adapting literary works for the screen gives rise to a perennial controversy. We have seen many canonical works adapted for the screen, among them Dickens's Oliver Twist, Bront�'s Wuthering Heights, Austen's Emma, Taha Hussein's (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
In an earlier column I pondered the future of South African literature following the end of apartheid. Before the end of apartheid South African writers had faced a single theme that they ignored at their peril. Nor was it only (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
It seems that poetry is receiving a boost in England. English poets have always been popular -- I cannot conceive of an English course in any country that does not teach the Romantic and the metaphysical poets.
In Egypt there is (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
The Book Fair is over. But it seems that all is not smooth sailing for the publishing industry. Egyptian publishers have for some time now been facing problems with custom duties on paper and ink, with the import and export duty (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
During the Cairo International Book Fair it sometimes might appear that the attention of the entire city is fixated on books. The event receives massive press and television coverage and has become a fixture of the cultural (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
The Aswan International Sculpture symposium is with us once more. The eighth session is taking place, from 15 January to 1 March, with artists from Poland, France, Germany, Bahrain, Canada, Romania, Palestine, Georgia and, of (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
Memories and nostalgia -- the trademarks of old age -- take me to Chile. I visited Santiago and had the honour of meeting Salvador Allende. Allende's leftist government had come to power through democratic elections, not a (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
My interest in the Irish literary movement and comparative studies led me to attend the defence of a PhD thesis with the title "A march to freedom: A cultural study of Egyptian-Irish patriotic struggles from the beginning of the (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
Old people seem to live on memories of the past. Nostalgia is an important part of their lives. A passing reference to something seemingly casual can bring back the whole past, with its woes and pleasures, hopefully the latter. (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
Casting is an important element in the success of any drama. Intelligent casting to a great extent characterised Ramadan serials this year. After a few episodes one almost forgot the name of the actors and remembered only the (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
From the start of Ramadan through to the end of the feast no one was spared the presence of the all-powerful soap opera; musalsalat, as these popular serial dramas are called, became an unequivocal part of our lives.
Turning (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
British actor and humourist Peter Ustinov turned 80 last year, an occasion that was celebrated in Russia, his parents' homeland, as well as in Germany, France and Italy. Such is his international fame that cultural institutions (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
After the fall of apartheid in South Africa I wondered what topics South African writers might now broach in their pursuit of the production of literature. It is a thought, I remember, that I expressed in this column at the time (...)
By Mursi Saad El-Din
Already Ramadan is drawing to an end barely a week or so, it might appear, before beginning. And it will be another year before it is upon us again, bringing with it the by- then long awaited resurgence of all those activities (...)
photo: Moussa Mahmoud
Samir Sabri:
Show business as usual
Piranhas have nothing to teach him -- he won't move in for the kill, although his tactics may surprise potential victims. He knows the singer, and the spangles, are just as important as the (...)
Hisham Abdel-Hamid:
Working on success
Stardom never comes easy. Its path is long and arduous. But when it comes, it strikes like thunder
Profile by Mursi Saad El-Din
It took Hisham Abdel-Hamid nine films and three plays to realise his dream of (...)