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Alaa Al Aswany on Egypt

Tom Sutcliffe discusses Egypt with novelist Alaa Al Aswany, journalist Wendell Steavenson, academic Hugh Kennedy and political economist Tarek Osman.

On Start the Week Tom Sutcliffe talks to the Egyptian writer Alaa Al Aswany about his latest novel which charts the country's social upheaval through the prism of Cairo's elite Automobile Club of Egypt. The foreign correspondent Wendell Steavenson looks back at the Egyptian revolution as the crowds gathered in Tahrir Square in 2011. The political economist Tarek Osman explores how Islamism has spread through the Middle East, and what its future prospects mean for the region, while Professor Hugh Kennedy charts the rise of the Caliphate and how the so-called Islamic State uses the iconography of early Islam as propaganda.

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43 minutes

Last on

Mon 18 Jan 2016 21:30

Alaa Al Aswany

is an author.

The Automobile Club of Egypt is published by Canongate.

Wendell Steavenson

is a writer.

Circling the Square: Stories from the Egyptian Revolution is published by Granta Books.

Hugh Kennedy

is Professor of Arabic at SOAS.

Caliphate: An Idea through History will be published later this year, and Hugh will be talking about Islam in early medieval Egypt at the on Monday 1 February.

Tarek Osman

is an author, essayist, documentary maker and political economist.

Islamism: What it Means for the Middle East and the World is published by Yale University Press.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Tom Sutcliffe
Interviewed Guest Alaa Al Aswany
Interviewed Guest Wendell Steavenson
Interviewed Guest Tarek Osman
Interviewed Guest Hugh Kennedy

Broadcasts

  • Mon 18 Jan 2016 09:00
  • Mon 18 Jan 2016 21:30

Podcast