Egyptian Culture theme in Qantara

The new edition of the German online magazine Qantara is out. Qantara is a magazine that mainly focuses on the cultural aspects of the meeting between the Muslim World and the West. Not the clash, but rather the synergy between the two.

This time they have a bit of an Egyptian cultural theme with an article on Baha Taher, whom recently was awarded the newly established Arabic booker prize for his novel Sunset Oasis. More on the Arab booker can be found here. There is also an article on Alaá al Aswany, who recently went to Germany and the city of Cologne to participate in lit COLOGNE, one of the most prestigious book festivals in Europe, presenting his latest novel Chicago, translated to German recently. On top of that there is a review of the latest film by the doyen of Egyptian film, Yousef Chahine. Ariana Mirza takes a look at Chaos or heya fawda as it´s called in it´s original language.

Another article takes a look at the current Arab blogging scene under the promising headline of Blogging in the Arab World: Lessons in Democracy, written by Alfred Hackensberger