The livestream will start Friday 21 May at 20:00. Please click the image below to view.

On May 21st, we will commemorate the 2011 Arab Spring together with prof. dr. Shereen Abouelnaga. She teaches English and Comparative Literature at Cairo University and has recently published a book about “Women in Revolutionary Egypt”. In her book, she explores the question of “gender and the new geographics of identity” before and after the Arab Revolt in Egypt, by paying special attention to the rise of new female poetic voices. At the center of our conversation is the intricate intersection of sociopolitical upheaval and poetic production. To this end, professor Shereen will bring along two female Egyptian poets – Sara Abdeen & Marwa Abu Daif – whom she has studied in her book. They will read their poetry (in both Arabic and English) and discuss the way in which they are situated.

About the speakers
Shereen Abuelnaga is a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cairo University. She is a literary critic and has published many academic articles and books in both Arabic and English. Being aware of her positionality in the third world at the peak of globalization and its discontents, she focusses on the rise a “new transversal text“ which is continuously threated by neo-patriarchy and neo-liberalism.

Sara Abdeen is a poet from Egypt. She has published 3 volumes in Arabic: “Together on two edges” (‘Ala hafatayn ma’an) in 2014, “I swallow time” (Abtal’e al-Waqt) in 2016, and “The woman who looked in the mirror until she disappeared” (almar'a allaty nazarat fi almira’at hatta ekhtafat) in 2019. In her work she is rebellious and does not shy away from the abject. While staying inside a state of despair and indifference, she rigorously questions the dominant social ideology and its restrictive discourse on women. In 2017 she has published a volume together with Egyptian poet Marwa Abu Daif entitled “A garden between us” (Wa bainana hadeeqa).

Marwa Abu Daif is a poet from Egypt. She has published 3 volumes in Arabic: “Departure memory” (Zakirat raheel) in 2008, “I cut my days and scatter them in the air” (Aqusu ayami wa anthuruha fi-l-hawa’) in 2013, and “Exhausted as a miracle” (Munhak ka’annaho Mu’jeza) in 2020. In her poetic discourse, which is voiced in a low but realistic key, she develops an aesthetics of defeat, while searching for a justification of disappointment. In 2017 she has published a volume together with Egyptian poet Sara Abdeen entitled “A garden between us” (Wa bainana hadeeqa).

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