Egyptian writers loath to see Ahlam Mosteghanemi represent the Arabs at the year of Shakespeare

A host of Arab writers including Egyptian ones haven’t swallowed their non-participation as guests of honor at the opening of the Year of the renowned English poet and playwright, “Shakespeare” in London, where the organizing Committee made up of senior intellectuals in the UK, extended an invitation to only the Algerian woman novelist Ahlam Mosteghanemi to represent the Arab literature at the planned outstanding literary event.

The invitation forwarded to Ahlam Mosteghanemi as guest of honour for the salient event followed the huge success secured by her trilogy which was translated into the English language, by one of the largest publishing and printing houses in Great Britain with  the British insisting on Ahlam’s presence among them, as part of the largest celebration dedicated to William Shakespeare who passed away in 1616.

Egyptians writers have so far remained in control of the Arab cultural scene in general especially in Britain, with the involvement of most brilliant literary contemporaries, and even outstanding late Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, refused to go to Oslo to receive the Nobel Prize, and sent his daughter in his name. 

He then refused to travel abroad, but when he fell sick in 1989 he chose the London destination, under great pressure from several writers in Egypt so to undergo at that time a surgical operation in the British capital.

Due to her brilliant literary itinerary, seasoned Algerian novelist Ahlam Mosteghanemi has now tilted the balance and is now much sought-after in international literary circles as evidenced by her presence as VIP in the important Shakespeare event to be hosted by London.

It should be noted that Ahlam Mosteghanemi’s novels have been adopted in the curricula of several universities and high schools worldwide, and dozens of university theses and research papers have been based upon her work. The French Ministry of Education has used parts of her best-seller “Memory in the Flesh” for the French baccalaureate tests in 2003 in 15 countries where students chose Arabic as a second language. 

Her work has been translated into several foreign languages by prestigious publishing houses, including pocket books in French and English. 

For over 35 years, Ahlam Mosteghanemi’’s great contribution enriched the Arabic literary scene with her highly acclaimed sentimental and poetic work. Furthermore, through her writings she led the fight against corruption, injustice, totalitarian regimes, fundamentalism, new forms of colonization and the denigration of women’s right. 

Her quotes, on love as well as politics, are widely used by the Arab public. As of January 2016, the Algerian author is followed by more than 9 million fans on Facebook and 700,000 on Twitter.