Author reading with Amal Sedky Winter

Join us at Cherry Street Village for an enjoyable afternoon with author Amal Sedky Winter as she reads and discusses excerpts from her new book Escape to Aswan. Amal is a bi-cultural, bilingual, Egyptian American woman with a foot in both worlds. Her life experience and her training and work as a psychologist enable her to compare them from both inside and outside. She will read a few excerpts from her book and answer questions from the audience. There will be light appetizers, and a chance to mingle.

On a brief visit to Cairo to support an investigation her fiancé, a Jewish American journalist, has undertaken, Salma is caught up in the machinations of a new, radical Islamist group with a vendetta against her father, a man with his own dark side. A former lover and Islamist, kidnaps her, and forces her to flee with him from Cairo to Aswan in the far south of Egypt. As they navigate the backroads, Salma, a privileged Egyptian-American, finds herself hiding under a burqa, running desert sandstorms and relying on the goodwill of poor villagers.

A page-turner, Escape to Aswan is not only a political thriller but a dramatic telling of the clashes of culture and class in the Arab world.

“Elegantly written, complex and yet readable, Escape to Aswan is filled with authentic characters, the complexity of Cairo, the simplicity of the desert south, and the profound dynamic of faith, family, grievance, loyalty, and revenge. A primer to the soul of modern Egypt.”

—John Zogby, We Are Many, We Are One

This event is sponsored by Salaam Cultural Museum, Dunya Productions, and Cherry Street Village