Alef bookshop will host writer Basma Abdel-Aziz on Tuesday, 26 March, at 7pm to discuss her newly released novel ‘Al-Tabur’ (The Queue.)

The discussion will be held at the bookstore’s branch in Heliopolis, Cairo. The first novel by psychiatrist, writer and visual artist Abdel-Aziz is also among the first books to be printed by the Cairo office of the Arab publishing house Dar Al-Tanweer.

The Queue mixes fantasy and realism, using sarcasm and lightness, describing Egyptians queuing in an extended unending line for an obscure 'gate' that gives strict orders. However, the 'gate' never opens, symbolising an authority that is hidden and untouchable, but has enormous power over people.

Abdel-Aziz is winner of the Sawiris Cultural Award 2008, and the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces award in 2008. She is also a recipient of the Ahmed Bahaa-Eddin Award in 2009 for her book ‘Temptation of Absolute Power.’

Programme:
Tuesday, 26 March, 7pm
Alef Bookshop, Heliopolis