Through tangled memory games, and reflections on the future that only signals the repetition of mistakes, and by tracing the fates her characters, Gaafar mixes in the stories of her series “Samir Hems’ Days” between realism, exoticism, and historical glimpses. All of this comes together against her preoccupation with the human burden that It is still an everyday occurrence that eyes sometimes miss, while staring at us for a while.
The short stories pose questions about death, desire, and obedience to the compliance of time. The narration leads us, consoling us for abandoned dreams, and bidding farewell to happy endings.
***** The seminar is moderated by writer and translator Abdel Rahim Youssef, an Egyptian writer and translator born in Alexandria. He graduated from the Faculty of Education, Department of English Language in 1997, and worked as a teacher from 1998 to 2018. He also worked as a technical coordinator at the Godran Foundation for Arts and Development. In addition to his work in translation, he published a number of poems in literary periodicals and local newspapers. Received the State Encouragement Award for translation. His authored works include: Karakib, A Cat, a Saint, and a Fairy, Dangerous Games, and The Goblin of the Can. His translated works include Twisted Facts: A Translated Story Ontology of Modern Ireland, Dark Matter, and Three Studies on Morality and Virtue, Locust Day, and The Day of Thirst.
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About the Author
An Egyptian writer, who is currently the Media Officer at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In 2015, she published a collection of short stories entitled “Aduda,” for which she won the Sawiris Cultural Award in 2017. One of her stories was translated into English and published in a book called The Cairo Book. In 2018, she participated in one of the short stories workshops in Goethe and won first place, and it got translated into German and English. She writes non-periodically for Egyptian and Arab newspapers and magazines.
