From Coffeehouse to Internet: Arabic Literature in Transition

Book launch and talk: Maisoon Saqr and her book “Café Riche. Eye on Egypt”

In 2022, for the first time, one of the Arab world’s most valuable literary prizes has gone to a female author from the United Arab Emirates: The poet Maisoon Saqr has been awarded Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the literature category for her work “Café Riche. Eye on Egypt” about Cairo’s coffeehouse culture, as exemplified by the famous Café Riche. Maisoon Saqr will introduce her book and discuss, with translator Samir Grees and Islamic scholar Sonja Hegasy, the challenges and changes facing Arabic literature today: the cultural shift away from the former centres to the Gulf, the tension between literature and politics and the role of social media versus the old coffeehouse culture.uskultur.