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This is our culture corner. Your weekly Egyptian cultural compass.
A cartoonist should have something to say. “A cartoonist, by nature, has an opinion to share,” Egyptian cartoonist Doaa El Adl says.
In our award-winning interview, Doaa explains how cartooning is about looking at the world, forming a perspective, and finding a visual way to communicate it. Her characters are often personal and, in her words, reflect the issues and communities she feels strongly about.
To become a cartoonist as skilled as Doaa, she teaches the importance of learning to have a point of view before you learn how to make a point.
Pay attention to what makes you angry. Notice what makes you laugh when nobody else seems to find it funny. Question the things people have learned to accept. Read the news, but look for the story underneath the story. Develop obsessions. Develop doubts. Develop convictions.
Then draw.
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Feature
The Pen is a Sword
Doaa El Adl’s cartoons have confronted political corruption, inequality, gender discrimination, poverty and human rights. Some of her most recognizable images are deliberately uncomfortable: a beard silencing a woman's mouth; a mother struggling beneath groceries and children; images confronting the exploitation of women and children. She is not interested in subjects simply because they are topical. She is interested in the people and problems that she believes are too often left outside the frame.
The best cartoons do not feel like stripped-down essays. They feel like discoveries. You look at an image and suddenly see a connection you had not noticed before. Something that seemed complicated becomes absurd. Something familiar becomes strange. Something you had accepted becomes impossible to ignore.
Cartoon and Resistance
Born in Palestine in 1938, Al-Ali was only ten when the Nakba forced him from his home. Years later, in 1969, he gave that memory a face, or rather, a turned back. Handala, a barefoot ten-year-old refugee, stands with his hands clasped behind him, forever facing away from the viewer. He never grows older, because he remains paused at the age Al-Ali was when he lost his homeland. He will only grow when Palestine is returned to him.
Through Handala, Al-Ali transformed the experience of exile into an enduring image. The boy’s silence speaks of loss, anger, dignity, and refusal. He became a witness to the lives of Palestinian refugees and a symbol of resistance to occupation and injustice. Yet Handala’s meaning reaches beyond Palestine: he represents the displaced, the silenced, and those who continue to stand in defiance of forces greater than themselves.
With his back turned and his small feet planted firmly in place, he became larger than the artist who created him.
What to Read
My Name is Warda
This enchanting comic tells the story of Warda, a bright and curious young girl growing up alongside her parents. Her father tends to his bees, while her mother runs a studio where she teaches girls the ancient art of Al-Qatt Al-Asiri. But to Warda, the intricate patterns of the art studio hold little allure beside the bees and the wondrous world of their hive.
Bright-eyed, fiercely intelligent, and unafraid, Warda becomes captivated by the powerful roles of the female bees, so unlike the roles of the women she knows in her own world. To her, the contrast between the two is impossible to ignore: two worlds, the human and the hive, governed by strikingly different orders.
And so Warda and her friend make a promise: they will never grow up.
What to Listen to
Ashkee Lemeen
“Ashkee Lemeen” feels like a song you return to when you don’t necessarily need answers, but simply need a moment to sit with everything you’ve been through. Life is rarely made up of one feeling at a time; sometimes gratitude exists beside regret, hope beside disappointment, and peace beside the memories that still hurt. Listening to it makes you think about how quickly life changes, how certain moments disappear before we realise their importance, and how the difficult chapters can become part of what gives the beautiful ones their meaning.
What to Watch
Remember Us
Sometimes, moving forward requires us to stop and look back; to revisit the details we overlooked and confront the parts of our lives we left behind. Because remembering where we came from may be the very thing that allows us to understand where we’re going.
When a sudden illness brings an elderly father into the bustling city where his son lives, their worlds collide. The son, consumed by his career and relentless pursuit of success, has become so focused on achieving his goals that the rest of his life has slowly faded into the background.
Through their unexpected reunion, the show explores what happens when our obsession with one thing, whether it’s work, success, ambition, or any other pursuit, begins to take over our entire lives. In the rush to move forward, we can lose sight of the people, memories, relationships, and small details that make our lives meaningful.
What to Eat
Halloumi Bagel
The halloumi bagel at Cult is such a simple but really satisfying combination. The warm, chewy bagel with that salty, slightly crispy halloumi just works. It’s filling without feeling too heavy, and it goes perfectly with a good cup of coffee. Whether you’re grabbing breakfast, stopping by for a quick bite, or just looking for something different to try, the halloumi bagel is definitely worth ordering. One of those easy choices that just hits the spot.
What to Visit
She Arts
She Arts Festival 2026 is coming up, and it feels like one of those events that’s worth making time for. It’s a chance to spend a day surrounded by music, art, and creativity, while discovering different artists and hearing stories and perspectives from women across the arts. This year’s festival will also feature incredible talents like Farah El Dibany and Nesma Mahgoub, which makes it even more special.
Egyptian Project
Egyptian Project brings the sounds and spirit of Egyptian folk music to life, turning traditions passed down through generations into an energetic, contemporary live experience. It’s a chance to reconnect with the rhythms, stories, and musical heritage that make Egyptian culture so rich, while experiencing them in a way that feels alive and immediate.
