“God had always been my refuge from refuge. I fled from Him to Him. Both my pretensions to faith and my attempts to reject, it didn't help me. I could be neither a believer nor an atheist. I couldn't give God up because I never found a substitute. (...)
Literary recession still glooms over book lovers in Egypt. There are no notable sensations to mark 2010, with bestseller lists largely unchanged from last year's, which in turn wasn't much different from the one before it. There are, however, few (...)
“By the one two-faced God and by primordial wisdom, I speak the truth. There is none but Mother and Son. From the two, every mother and son come. An embrace to the mother, longing to her son, and to them together birth and recreation. God Eel (...)
CAIRO: On Tuesday, Egyptian science enthusiasts were delighted to attend the launch of the Egyptian version of the FameLab competition in its second year.
FameLab, originally created by and gained international popularity through the UK's (...)
Simple, compact, hard-hitting and realistic is how superior comic literature should be, and this is exactly what Lebanese writer Sahar Mandour offers readers in her first novel “S-a'rsem negma a'la gabeen Vienna” (I will Color a Star on Vienna's (...)
The one image that lingered in my mind long after finishing Ahmed Zaghlol Al-Sheti's newest short story collection is that of three sad tigers sitting down for tea with a stranger in his home. Before leaving him, they approach slowly and shower him (...)
I sold my soul to anxiety and worry and in return, I got a bunch of papers writes Khaled Kassab in his first collection of colloquial Arabic poetry.
"Ana Ra'e Baqr Waheed: Monmanamat Ghagreya (I am a Lone Cowboy: Gypsy Ornaments) is the young (...)
After tackling hunger in "Gou (Hunger), Egyptian novelist Mohamed Al-Bosaty turns his pen to another predicament troubling the Egyptian poor: housing.
In "Ghoraf lil Egaar (Rooms for Rent), he tells the stories of six poor tenants residing in an (...)
In his latest book, "Al-Lahoot Al-Araby wa Osol Al-Onf Al-Diny (Arab Theology and the Origins of Religious Violence), Youssef Ziedan explores the way arguments amongst religious scholars and their involvement in politics lead to violence amongst the (...)
How did the religious heritage of the Levant (Sham) help direct the evolution of theology from Judaism to Christianity to Islam, and how did arguments amongst religious scholars and their involvement in politics lead to violence amongst the (...)
CAIRO: Following the Euro-Mediterranean Innovation Marketplace, which wrapped up last week in Cairo, was a rare chance to read into the future of Egypt's research and technology efforts.
The Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) program (...)
We are all traveling, even those who seem to be still, says Gamal Al-Ghitani in his new novel/diary "Men Daftar Al-Eqama (From the Book of Sojourn). In the seventh installment of his notebook of diary series, the author explores the concept of (...)
At 7 am this past Friday, a few astronomy enthusiasts gathered at the plaza of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to watch the first solar eclipse of the year. They were waiting to see the moon cross the face of the sun and block part of its light.
A (...)
The one definite reality about Egyptian literature this year is that the volume of works released is relatively poor compared to last year's. This literary recession may have its roots in the economic crisis which hit every field in 2009.
This (...)
CAIRO: Is it possible to like physics without the complicated mathematics? Well, other than the fact that Albert Einstein formulated his theory of Special Relativity using only basic high school algebra, the life of Michael Faraday says that it s (...)
And God may help us with the two camps. This phrase, and sentiment, echoes strongly across the series of articles written by Arabic Booker prize winner Youssef Ziedan that were published over the past few weeks in Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. (...)
When it comes to the City Victorious, Cairo, the capital of synthesis and historical melting pot of civilizations, few modern writers have succeeded in capturing its essence and connecting its seemingly distant parts better than eminent Egyptian (...)
On Monday night, members of the Scream theater group treated Sawy Culture Wheel's audience to a new production of great Egyptian playwright and poet Salah Abdel-Saboor's famed text "Ma'sat Al-Hallaj (Al-Hallaj Tragedy).
While the group chose to (...)
The image of America that the average non-American possesses is derived primarily from two sources: the 24/7 news flush and Hollywood flicks. So how does, say, an Egyptian studying in the American countryside regard America?
Zeinab Abul-Magd (...)
Great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish once wrote, "I could have dreamt a little too much and I could have lost all the memories, but in the celebration of his first memorial, hosted by Sawy Culture Wheel on Sunday, his fears proved to be unfounded (...)
After an 11-year absence from the realm of short stories, Arabic Booker Prize winner Bahaa Taher makes a remarkable comeback with "Lam Aaref ina Al-Tawawes Tateer (I Didn't Know that Peacocks Could Fly).
Taher's latest short story collection is (...)
Few novels get a successful reprint half a century following their initial publication. But in the case of Mohamed Kamel Hussein's "An Unjust Village (Qarya Zalema), several factors demanded a new publication of this historical fiction which deals (...)
Throw in a multitude of Egyptian folk tales and contemporary politics (Israeli/Palestinian conflict, social and political oppression in Egypt), blend them together, turn the folk stories upside down, rewrite them once more with different endings, (...)
ALEXANDRIA: The Bibliotheca Alexandrina celebrated Eratosthenes (276-195 c), one of the prominent head librarians of the ancient library, with a day of science fun where about 500 Alexandrian preparatory school students re-performed the experiment (...)
What's in a name? In his newest novel "Rin, revered Egyptian writer Gamal Al-Ghitani roams the landscapes of Upper Egypt in search for an answer to this stimulating question. The title, which means "name in Ancient Egypt, is a perfect embodiment of (...)