Off-Screen
"From Egypt" attempts to draw a cultural map of Egypt and the Arab world by profiling the artistic, literary, and political issues that affect the region via on-the-ground coverage of current events, publications, and the fight for freedom of expression.

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Hamdy El-Gazzar is an Egyptian writer and one of the 39 young Arab writers included in the Beirut 39 Project. His first novel, Sihr Aswad (Dar Merit, 2005) won the prestigious Sawaris Award, and was subsequently translated by Humphrey Davies (Black Magic, AUC Press, 2007). His second novel, Ladhdhat Sirriyya (Secret Pleasures) was published by Dar al-Dar in 2008. He is currently working on a third novel.
  • Zahra

    Hamdy el-Gazzar provides a social commentary on Egyptian life and contemporaneous issues through an artistic lens in his column.

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  • Karam Saber
    The Defamation of Religion and Karam Saber, Again

    Last October, Hamdy El-Gazzar wrote about Karam Saber, an Egyptian writer who was sentenced to five years in prison for “contempt- and defamation of religion” in his short story collection, Where is God. On March 11, the Beba Misdemeanour Court in Beni Sueif upheld this sentence.

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  • Map of Islamic Caliphate c. 750 AD
    Sedition of the Caliphate

    Did the ‘Caliphate’ really exist as a political and religious regime for transferring authority through Islamic history? Author Hamdy el-Gazzar comments on Islamic historian Mohammad Abu Rahma’s new book about the fight for authority throughout the more than 600-year history of Caliphate rule.

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  • Egypt Flag Revolution
    The Evening of Friday, February 11, 2011

    In this week’s column, Egyptian writer Hamdy el-Gazzar offers a personal account of the evening of February 11, 2011, the day former president Hosni Mubarak stepped down from office, ushering what he and many in the streets of Cairo celebrated as a new promising chapter for Egypt.

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  • Cover: The Arena's Shout
    The Arena’s Outcry

    This week Hamdy el-Gazzar introduces us to The Arena’s Shout, a new book that studies the lexicon of the Egyptian Revolution. The book examines 650 different slogans that were chanted by protestors gathered at Tahrir Square and other public places across Egypt.

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