American University in Cairo

Sun 15, 7-8pm (Online event): Join a virtual talk on Luxor Illustrated, Revised and Updated: With Aswan, Abu Simbel, and the Nile book by Michael Haag. The talk will feature professor of Egyptology Aidan Dodson, who wrote the introduction and updated this edition. Livestreaming will be available on AUC Press Facebook page.
Luxor Illustrated is a comprehensive, full-colour guide to the monuments and landscapes of Upper Egypt. It explores the ancient city of Luxor (ancient Thebes), highlighting its major temples, including Luxor and Karnak, and its extensive necropolis with sites like the Valley of the Kings and Queen Hatshepsut’s temple. The book also covers other significant Upper Egyptian sites such as Abydos, Dendera, Esna, Edfu, and Kom Ombo, and gives special attention to Aswan and the island temple of Isis at Philae. The guide culminates with the awe-inspiring temples of Abu Simbel, featuring colossal statues of Rameses II and his wife Nefertari. Fully revised and updated by Dodson, this edition is designed to be a practical and informative companion for visitors to these historic sites. The link is https://e.cglink.me/2kZ/r300106424

Moataz Al Alfi Hall

AUC New Cairo Campus 

Mon 16- Wed 18, 9am: The Digital Universities Arab World Higher Education Summit, is organized in partnership with Times Higher Education. The Summit, titled "Innovation for Sustainable Digital Higher Education", will be hosted in Egypt for the first time, bringing together university leaders, higher education experts, officials, and innovators from across the region. Discussions will focus on the future of digital transformation, the impact of artificial intelligence on higher education, and its practical applications.

 

 

Heliopolis Library

42 Al-Oroba St, off Beirut St, Misr Al-Gedida, Tel 011 42464426

Mon 16, 5.30pm: A meeting with writer Rasha Adly, who will talk on her literary works. 

 

 

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC)

1 Dr. Mahmoud Azmi St, Zamalek, Tel 02 2738 2522

Thurs 12, 6pm: "Hypnotists and Jinn in 1930s Cairo" a lecture by Raphael Cormack, Assistant Professor of Arabic at Durham University (UK). The early twentieth century in Egypt was a time of intellectual exploration. Among the many new doctrines, sciences, and philosophies that were setting Cairo ablaze, one of the most unusual was hypnotism. Experimental and, often, weird it existed on the outer reaches of modern science but it had a number of high profile adherents in Egypt. By the 1920s, a series of charismatic young men were using the supposed power of hypnosis to accomplish all kinds of inexplicable miracles. This talk tells their story and sets it alongside the much older (still thriving) tradition of Jinn summoning which hit the headlines in 1930s Cairo, when an Italian woman was convinced by an unscrupulous set of Jinn summoners to hand over a large amount of her fortune and marry Shamhurish, a king of the Jinn. The institute works on a first-come, first-served basis as the number of seats is limited. 

 

 

 

Tahrir Cultural Centre (TCC) 

AUC’s Tahrir Campus, Al-Sheikh Rihan St, off Tahrir Square, Tel 02 2615 2694/01280009077

Oriental Hall

Tues 17, 7-8pm: Join a book talk with Louis Brehony, activist, musician, researcher and educator, and a preeminent global scholar of Palestinian music. He is author of Palestinian Music in Exile: Voices of Resistance (AUC Press, 2023), a historical and contemporary study of Palestinian musicianship in exile in the Middle East, spanning half a century in disparate locations, including Gaza, Turkey, Kuwait, and Egypt.
(Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
This talk will be live-streamed on the AUC Press Facebook page).

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* A version of this article appears in print in the 12 September, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly