Two female authors prove that when it comes to relationships, men and women do belong to two different planets.
In in Schizophrenic Egypt Cairenes face major tribulations when it comes to their love life. We’re never fully aware of what the opposite sex thinks of our appearances or behavior; hence insecurity plays a leading role in our romantic life. While some women get married in their twenties, others are 30 old year virgins; and while most men have frequent pre-marital sex, some women are never been kissed. There aren’t any guidelines or prescriptions on how to have a healthy relationship in Egypt; but a couple of months ago, two new books triggered some “ahahs”, flipping through the widespread relationship disasters in Egypt starting from shocking dating experiences and ending with the 7th year itch. We met with the two Egyptian authors Imz Khattab and May Taher to tell us all about the source of their brainwaves.
Imz Khattab
Cracking The Code of The Egyptian RelationShit
Iman Khattab, a.k.a Imz started out her writing career by working as an assistant to the Editor In Chief in some publications like Egypt’s Insight, Campus and E7na. She married her sweetheart at the age of 20 and she’s now a mum to a 7 year old daughter. A couple of years ago, Imz travelled to Slovenia with her family, and by having lots of free time there, she began swinging her pen to coming up with a book that pinpoints all the ‘Shit’ Egyptian couples experience through the different phases of their ride.
So tell us how did the idea emerge?
I had a list of things to do before turning 30, one of them is that I wanted to be a published author. I made the best out of the situation of living two years in Slovenia, because I couldn’t work in the media field there as all their English publications come from London. I had the know-how and connections I needed to publish a book so I started thinking of writing my first book.
Don’t you think that your book speaks about a certain bubble in the Egyptian society?
I write about people like me. If I wrote about a lower social class, I would be writing from a foreigner’s point of view, and there is a book called ‘3ayza Atgawez’ that talks to another social class so they already have their voice. I interviewed around 200 people and it took me 9 months to write this book. I compiled the material by posting some questions to my Facebook status and I got a lot of different, contradicted views from both men and women.
May Taher