Children’s Picture Books: Mirrors of Contemporary Egyptian Society

Name: Children’s Picture Books: Mirrors of Contemporary Egyptian Society
Start: 2025-04-12T16:30:00+02:00
End: 2025-04-12T17:30:00+02:00
Location: AUC Main Campus - Tahrir

Schedule

Sat Apr 12 2025 at 04:30 pm to 05:30 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

AUC Main Campus - Tahrir | Cairo, QH

AUC Press authors are participating in the second edition of the Tahrir CultureFest, hosted by the American University in Cairo, taking place from 10 to 12 April 2025, at AUC Tahrir Square campus.
This year’s festival celebrates Cairo as a global city, featuring a diverse lineup of cultural events, including expert book talks from AUC Press.
Join Yasmine Motawy for an insightful discussion on her book "Children’s Picture Books and Contemporary Egyptian Society", which explores how children’s literature reflects two decades of Egyptian neoliberalism. Through an analysis of picture books published post-2000, Motawy examines how these stories reinforce and challenge societal norms.
Learn more about the book here: tinyurl.com/Childrenspicturebooks
Furthermore, the conversation will examine how shifts in education, migration, and cultural initiatives have shaped these books. By doing so, it offers valuable insights into evolving childhood agency, gender roles, and environmental awareness in contemporary Egypt.
Motawy will be in conversation with Dr. Hebatalla Salem, Senior Instructor II of Arabic Language Instruction at AUC and author of the recently published children’s picture book "Omar and Thoraya in Tahrir" (Asfoura Books, 2024).
Speaker Biographies--->>>
<yasmine motawy=""> teaches rhetoric and composition at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and is a leading scholar in children’s literature. Her expertise spans criticism, translation, editing, consulting, and writing mentorship. Over the years, she has served on several prestigious juries, including the 2021 Bologna Ragazzi Award, the 2016 and 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award, and the 2017 Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature. Additionally, she was a member of the Arabic books selection committee for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Book Club (2019–2020) and co-edited The Routledge Companion to International Children’s Literature (2018).
<hebatalla salem=""> is a Senior Instructor II of Arabic Language Instruction at AUC. She recently completed her tenure as Executive Director of the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA@AUC) and the Center for Advanced Arabic Study in Cairo (CAASIC) (2017–2024). Holding a BA in Mass Communications and Psychology and an MA in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL) from AUC, she has designed and taught various courses, including Cairo: The City of 1001 Faces. Additionally, she is the author of the Arabic children’s picture book "Omar and Thoraya in Tahrir" (Asfoura Books, 2024).
--->>> Click here to register: https://tahrirculturefest.aucegypt.edu//
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