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Looking for the Fairy or the magic wand? A few notes on man's search for happiness

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Looking for the Fairy or the magic wand? A few notes on man's search for happiness

Last week, the faculty of languages hosted the prominent Dr. Sahar El Mougy to talk about “Looking for the Fairy or the magic wand? A few notes on man's search for happiness”. Sahar Elmougy is an Egyptian writer, assistant professor of American literature (Cairo University). She is also a columnist, creative writing trainer, storyteller and feminist activist. Up her sleeve, she has four books: two collections of short stories and two novels. Her two novels: Daria (1999) and Noon (2007), which won Arab and Mediterranean literary prizes, carved her a place on the Egyptian literary map. Her bestselling novel Noon helped confirm as one of the prominent authors in Egypt. Elmougy conducts a creative writing workshop named after Seshat (the ancient Egyptian goddess of writing).

In 2009, she co-founded Ana Elhekaya, a feminist writing and storytelling group, keen on challenging the patriarchal dominance over women. In her writings, she evokes the ancient Egyptian goddesses and confirms women’s ability to carve a place of their own. In the storytelling project, she foregrounds women’s voices. She believes it is time for society to hear the ancient voice. Dr. Sahar’s extended experience and excellence in her field provided a very inspiring and productive talk. The attendees interacted with her, supplying their own perspectives about happiness, and were engrossed by the discussion that followed. MSAU is eager to continuously host such prominent and philanthropic speakers who work tirelessly and selflessly to empower the people in need to create their own wellbeing, such as Dr. Sahar, and we thank everyone involved in keeping this tradition alive.