Complete Review has recently posted a thorough review on Professor Hanaa by Reem Bassiouney. Read the complete review here.
Tag Archives: Reem Bassiouney
Reem Bassiouney’s interview with BBC World about her novel Professor Hanaa
Reem Bassiouney The novelist talks about creating a more complex, Egyptian answer to ‘chick lit’ with her bestselling book Professor Hanaa.
Listen to the interview here
http://garnetpublishing.co.uk/media/listen-reem-bassiouneys-interview-strand-bbc-world-service
Or read the transcript below:
Professor Hanaa, the story of the professor who would not be virgin on her 40th birthdaty, released in the United Kingdom
Professor Hanaa
by Reem Bassiouney
The Egyptian bestselling novel and the winner of the Sawiris literary award, the biggest award in Egypt, now in the UK
“Deep, original, fascinating…opens new doors to the modern novel in the Arab world and represents Egyptian society with all its complexities, paradoxes and pressing problems.” Gamal Al Ghitany, Novelist and editor in chief of Egypt’s premier literary journal, Akhbar Al Adab
On the eve of her fortieth birthday an Egyptian academic, Professor Hanaa, finds herself alone and unloved. For twenty years she has battled with an impossible love for an unobtainable colleague, and has become an outcast in a society where family and friends mean everything. Single-mindedly intent on changing her life, Hanaa determines she will lose her virginity before her birthday and sets her sights on Khalid, her teaching assistant. An earnest, hardworking and devout young man, Khalid is an unlikely accomplice; however Hanaa’s powers of persuasion know no bounds. What ensues is a humorous and wry commentary on relationships in the Arab world.
About the author
Reem Bassiouney is the author of five highly acclaimed novels in Arabic, all of which have been best-sellers in Egypt. Her second novel, The Pistachio Seller won the best Arabic translated novel award in 2009, and her new novel Professor Hanaa, which appeared in Arabic in 2008, won the first prize in the Sawiris literary award – the biggest award in Egypt.
Watch the author’s conference at Georgetown University
Middle Eastern 40 Year Old Virgin
Georgetown professor and Sawiris prize-winning author Reem Bassiouney’s PROFESSOR HANAA, pitched as a Middle Eastern take on Oleanna and the Forty Year Old Virgin, examining the role of the single, career-driven woman in the Arab world, translated from the Arabic, acquired by Arash Hejazi at Garnet, via Jessica Papin at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (World English).
Garnet on Publishing 