The event for Lewis at the Institut du Monde Arabe, which took place on a sunny day in Paris, was packed, and while he spoke in Arabic via an interpreter, the majority of the audience had obviously read him in Arabic and were already laughing by the time his sentences were translated into French.
Egyptian writer Shady Lewis, who lives in London, won and turned down a Sawiris Cultural Award over the weekend, igniting a firestorm of commentary online.
“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.”
“We hope to create more space for diverse voices from the region to be heard elsewhere, not for what they “represent,” but for the unique, singular vision each of them provides.”
