CAIRO: A number of Algerian writers and leading intellectuals have signed onto a petition that denounces Algeria’s international book fair for banning Egyptian texts over a football dispute. The move by the Algerian book fair likely comes after Egypt’s international book fair in January also banned a number of Algerian volumes from being allowed at [...]

WASHINGTON, DC: In an important new move, the Palestinian Authority has recently begun highlighting education as one of the main centerpieces in the next phase of the state and institution building program. Under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas, the PA understands that an effective and progressive educational system is essential for economic and social [...]

CAIRO: The poetry of Qassim Haddad, an influential cultural figure in Bahrain who is also the recipient of the Owais Cultural Foundation Prize for Poetry (frequently referred to as the Arabic-language Nobel Prize), will be translated into English by AUC Professor Ferial Ghazoul and Instructor John Verlenden. The project is being funded with a $100,000 [...]

Eloquent and convincing, Jonathan Safron Foer’s Eating Animals is one of those rare eloquent non-fiction masterpieces that do not indulge his ideas of the world – when he could so easily have done so – instead what he created is a volume that will undoubtedly become a Vegan’s Bible in the years to come. It [...]

JERUSALEM: The other day I met my Jewish neighbor just across the street and his face looked just exactly like my face I saw him play with his children just exactly as I would play with my children I heard him speak tenderly to his wife just exactly as I would speak tenderly to my [...]

CAIRO: For the second consecutive year, The American University in Cairo (AUC) School of Continuing Education is hosting a summer program on the New Cairo Campus, open to children from the greater Cairo community. The program, Discover and Explore, is designed for children ages 6 through 15, and offers a variety of activities, including theater, [...]

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey: A book fair in Diyarbakir, the largest city in southeastern Turkey, took place for the very first time in this far-flung, Kurd-populated region. Nearly 125 exhibitors unpacked their boxes full of books in the halls of the Tüyap exhibition centre, which until recently featured cars and agricultural machinery. For an entire week in [...]

The recent Fourth of July holiday in the U.S., was an opportunity for me to once again appreciate the gift of liberty that I enjoy in my country. It is a gift that came with much sacrifice two hundred and thirty four years ago. And it seems the price of freedom has to be repaid [...]