The General Egyptian Book Organization Decides to Wrestle a Lion

If you’ve been following the news in Egypt, you’ve likely heard of the poor (delusional) soul who’s decided to fight a poor (non-delusional) lion, which he purchased on the black market. If you haven’t, then read the lion-fighter’s Q&A with Ali Abdel Mohsen, where the fighter comes across as some strange mash-up character out of Midaq Alley meets “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.”

Meanwhile, the General Egyptian Book Organization (GEBO) seems to have caught a strain of this quixotic virus, and is planning to hold a make-up, semi-international book fair during Ramadan. That is, in August. And not on the fairgrounds, but on Faisal Street.

I first saw the news on Youm7’s new English-language website, which they have soft-launched.

You can now find daily English-language arts & culture coverage from Cairo, of varying quality, on:

Youm7

Al Masry Al Youm

Daily News Egypt

Ahram Online

And weekly on:

Al Ahram Weekly