Fiction

Eye on Egypt: Café Riche

by Maisoon Saqer

Description

The book opens a unique door to the history of Cairo and its journey from a social and cultural perspective and aims to build a new and different narrative for this history—one that shows Cairo as a cosmopolitan, multicultural city. Cairo’s Cafe Riche has a deep cultural history and a broad creative and social heritage. Saqer describes it as “the site where endless friendships are established between the café and history.” Saqer’s narrative is not just about the small café, but rather constitutes observance and analysis of the presence of this café in the history of Egypt and how we can view many events surrounding it. Here there is no separation between the political and the cultural, between the historical, the social, and the artistic. The book combines history and narrative, which makes it a documented historical biography on the one hand and a creative work on the other. It also documents an important era in Egypt’s cultural history by examining the cultural and social transformations in modern Egyptian history and highlighting prominent intellectuals and creators associated with the cafe and the history of intellectual life in Egypt.

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Rights Information

World rights available

Marketing Information

Winner of the 2022 Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Literature.

Author Biography

Maisoon Saqer is a poet, novelist and artist who has published several collections of poetry in classical Arabic and has previously won the C.P. Cavafy International Prize for Poetry. Her novels Raihana (2003) and A Pearl in My Mouth (2016) were previously shortlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Award. Her professional background includes working at the Cultural Complex in Abu Dhabi in the Department of Culture, Arts, and Publishing, and at the Ministry of Information and Culture as Director of the Cultural Department.

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Sheikh Zayed Book Award

Sheikh Zayed Book Award

The SZBA is presented to writers, intellectuals and publishers whose writings and translations of humanities have enriched Arab cultural, literary and social life.

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Nahdet Misr Publishing
  • Publication Date 2021
  • Orginal LanguageArabic
  • ISBN/Identifier 9789771460404
  • Publication Country or regionUnited Arab Emirates
  • Pages656
  • ReadershipGeneral
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Original Language TitleMaq’ha Reesh, Ain Ala Massr
  • Original Language Authorsara
  • Copyright Year2021

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