Culture
Iraqi writer Hassan Blasim has too many stories to tell
March 24, 2013
Iraqi writer Hassan Blasim has too many stories to tell
In Hassan Blasim’s “The Song of the Goats,” hundreds of Iraqis “were waiting in queues to tell their stories. The…
Three arts festivals hit downtown Cairo this April with new visions
March 23, 2013
Three arts festivals hit downtown Cairo this April with new visions
On one end of the concrete wall blocking Qasr al-Aini Street stands a small grocery store with a red façade.…
Chinua Achebe, grandfather of African literature, dies at 82
March 22, 2013
Chinua Achebe, grandfather of African literature, dies at 82
Nigerian novelist and poet Chinua Achebe, widely seen as a grandfather of modern African literature, has died at the age…
This week in 1937: Egypt’s censors ban their first film
March 21, 2013
This week in 1937: Egypt’s censors ban their first film
Celebrating the diamond jubilee of its confiscation of the film “Lashin” on 17 March 1937, Egypt’s Board of Censors marked…
Grammy winner Gilberto Gil headlines the 5th Annual Cairo Jazz Festival
March 20, 2013
Grammy winner Gilberto Gil headlines the 5th Annual Cairo Jazz Festival
It only makes sense that Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil is this year’s “Guest of Honor” at the fifth Cairo…
Artists and writers search for a common street in Iraq
March 19, 2013
Artists and writers search for a common street in Iraq
Baghdad’s Al-Mutanabbi Street is perhaps the longest-lived book-selling neighborhood in the world. According to scholar Muhsin al-Musawi, the current bookshops…
Profile: Faten El Disouky, a singular Egyptian sculptor
March 18, 2013
Profile: Faten El Disouky, a singular Egyptian sculptor
One of Faten El Disouky’s works is a huge yellow cuboid of foam. It comes up to about waist-high, and…
Translating theater to and from the Arab world
March 17, 2013
Translating theater to and from the Arab world
In a sense, the text of a play is incomplete. It is written to be performed, more than to be…
Qatar offered to buy Abbas al-Aqqad’s house: Late writer’s nephew
March 16, 2013
Qatar offered to buy Abbas al-Aqqad’s house: Late writer’s nephew
Almost half a century after after he passed away on 12 March 1964, the family of Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad feels…
This week in 1964: Outspoken Brotherhood critic and intellectual dies
March 14, 2013
This week in 1964: Outspoken Brotherhood critic and intellectual dies
On 12 March 1964, an Egyptian cultural legend died aged 75. For decades, Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad had engaged in intellectual…