The collective voices are my interest; it’s my area of research, it’s the literary journal I founded, it’s where my curiosity is never quenched.

When I was a young girl in Montreal in the 80s, I adored glossy magazines. The shelves in pharmacies, supermarkets, and newsstands were where I always lingered when accompanying my mom running errands and shopping for food. There was such a wide selection too, especially in bookstores – where they were divided into categories. I was curious about so many subjects – and I loved how when I walked along the aisle, I could peruse the shelves and see our dinnertime conversations on world politics reflected in striking images; as I kept walking, I’d continue to get captivated by geography, history, ancient civilizations, travel, fashion, cooking, celebrities, comics, and exciting word games.

Sherine Elbanhawy

Writer, researcher, student

Sherine Elbanhawy is pursuing an MA in Islamic Studies with a specialization in Women and Gender Studies at McGill University. She holds a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. She’s the founder of Rowayat, a literary magazine showcasing Egyptian writers. Her writing has been published in The Malahat Review, Room Magazine, Arablit and others. She loves to travel, read and spend time with family, and friends. She’s AIM’s board member and secretary, tweets @CaireneGirl

Night Stencils

The Masters Review’s 2021 Short Story Award Winner

Forty stacks of disheveled newspapers, each one filtered by headline. Forty days of bleeding after birth. Forty days of travel in the underworld—one month and ten days. As a historian, Hoda should have felt more tethered to the fortieth day ritual, yet all she wanted was to be alone.

“I can’t tell people not to come.” Hassan whispered in her ear a fortieth day prayer to the dead about light, forgiveness, and paradise

Read the rest of Night Stencils

Research

  • Gazebeya جاذبية صدقي
    Multiple spellings of her name in latin letters online  Gazbeya Gazebeya  Gazibieh  Jadhibiyyah  Sidqi/ Sedki  “Glimpses from World Theatre” by Gazebeya Sedki To Art wherever … Read more
  • Gender Barriers in Education Webinar
    Webinar on “Gender Barriers to Education (in times of crisis)” Case Studies from Egypt Non-traditional educational models of success

Creative Writing and Translations

  • Voices – Aswat
    Voices  – Aswat أصوات A quarterly cultural magazine Editor in Chief: Denys Johnson-Davies (Read Goodbye, Denis 1922-2017, Arablit & Arablit Quarterly) Publication date: 1961-1963 Type … Read more
  • Love Collections
    When I was a young girl in Montreal in the 80s, I adored glossy magazines. The shelves in pharmacies, supermarkets, and newsstands were where I … Read more
  • “Night Stencils” 2021 Summer Short Story Award Winner
    The Masters Review is an online and in print publication celebrating new and emerging writers. We are on the lookout for the best new talent … Read more

Reviews

  • Arab Anthology in French 1964
    ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01JV01GK2 Publisher ‏ : ‎ Editions du Seuil (January 1, 1964) Language ‏ : ‎ French     Table of Contents   Women included … Read more
  • The Art of Remembrance in “Abacus of Loss”
    The Abacus of Loss by Sholeh Wolpé is a vivid memoir in verse that unpacks individual memories in a series of thematic strings—the wires of the abacus—each with a different number of beads, from three to thirteen.
  • Shelf Life: The Irreverent Nadia Wassef
    Shelf Life, Chron­i­cles of a Cairo Bookseller An auto­bi­og­ra­phy by Nadia Wassef MacMillan/FSG (2021) ISBN 9780374600181 In a world where bricks and mor­tar book­stores are … Read more
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