Young novelists surge in Egypt

An increase of Barnes and Noble-style megabookstore/cafe/lounges in Egypt has engendered a new wave of young Egyptian authors, though, unlike their predecessors, whose literature was steeped in religion, social mores, and political controversy, these new Arabic writers are more interested in depicting the commonplace trials of life in twenty-first century Egypt, such as homelessness, unemployment, suicide, and rape, as well as the influx of European and American influences in the form of pop culture, the Internet, and technology.

Popular new authors and their books include

• Abu Golayyel, whose humorous, semi-autobiographical A Dog with No Tail recounts a Bedoin construction worker's experiences with prostitution, discrimination, and drug abuse;
• Hamed Abdel-Samad, whose Farewell to Heaven examines sexual abuse, childhood delusions and illusions, and self-imposed exile in Europe;
• Ahmed el-Aidy's Being Abbas el-Abd, the story of a video store clerk who experiences social connection only through the Internet and his cell phone; and
  
• Mazen al-Aqaad, whose Lost Anger unearths the transfixing, cult-like influence of the Internet while highlighting a group of young people whose miserable and boring lives have led them to form an online suicide cult.

Some view the rising popularity of fiction in socially conservative, authoritarian Egypt as a positive stimulant to progress and political freedom. From an Associated Press article by Hamza Hendawi:

"While not political, the intellectual stimulation created by all this fiction will one day bring about reform and help contain the dangers of religious extremism and sectarianism," said Mohammed Hashem, founder of Dar Merit, publisher of "Being Abbas al-Abd" and many of the more experimental new works.