Egyptian literary critic, scholar, and two-time Minister of Culture Gaber Asfour died on Friday at the age of 77.
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From the FOLK Issue: ‘Death in Three Portraits’
Bakhit Al-Bashari lay in his sickbed, the same bed he once made with his bare hands from the stalks of palm fronds.
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Egyptian Novelist Shady Lewis on Coptic Identity, Church-State Relations, and Citizenship
“In Ways of the Lord, Christians are mistaken for being Jews and are accused of spying for Israel, which demonstrates the lack of recognition of Copts and their conflation with other minorities.”
Read more13 Books in Translation: A Literary History of Egypt After 2011
These thirteen books (six novels, three works of literary nonfiction, a graphic novel, a poetry collection, a short-story collection, and a collection of playtexts) provide a not-insubstantial literary landscape of contrasting visions and emotions:
Read moreAn Excerpt of Amr Ezzat’s ‘The Deer’s Visit’
“Almost 15 years ago, my ex-wife’s father told me that he used his connections in the security services to find out how dangerous my political activity was, and they told him that my political classification in their files was: sympathetic to communists.”
Read moreAll That Ali Kotb Knows: On ‘Meccano’
Before it was published by the now-shuttered Sharkiat publishing house in 2011, the novel won the Ihsan Abdel Quddous Award that same year.
Read moreTwo Poems by Al-Dawy Mohammed Al-Dawy
“Many years ago / I swallowed a butterfly while I was singing.”
Read moreIbrahim Aslan’s ‘The Rare Meeting with Al-Aqqad’
“That is how this man, along with Taha Hussein—both of whom were legendary figures who dominated our intellectual and spiritual life—transformed into a mighty monster, one whose only virtue was to degrade me.”
Read moreNew Fiction: ‘The Last Stop’ by Hany Ali Said
“I walk up “the bridge,” which is the name I’ve given to the entrance hall in my uncle’s home, because it’s higher than the other rooms.”
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