Mansoura Ez-Eldin was born in 1976 in a small village in Delta Egypt, and graduated in journalism from Cairo University in 1998. She started publishing her short stories in the Arab press when she was just 21, and a collection Dhaw’a Muhtaz [Shaken Light] was published in Cairo in 2001. She has worked in Egyptian television, and presently runs the book review section of the renowned Egyptian literary magazine Akhbar al-Adab [Literature News].

Her successful debut novel Maryam's Maze (excerpted in Banipal 25, trans. Paul Starkey,) was published by the award-winning Merit publishers in 2004, with the English edition published by AUC Press, Cairo. Mansoura is currently working on her second novel.

In August 2006 Mansoura was one of four Arab authors touring the UK with Banipal Live 2006. Banipal 22 published a translation of one of her stories. We are pleased to reproduce Butrus: A Distant Hazy Face here. It is also repubiished along with four new stories in Unbuttoning the Violin, selected works by the four authors touring with Banipa Live 2006.

"Arab women authors are nowadays writing with more audacity than ever before, especially in Egypt… They are writing about the female body and sexuality, religious and political issues in a much more open way. In fact they are the most daring group of writers, having the most impact on the new writing scene."

In this interview in the London local newspaper Camden New Journal, which was conducted in Edinburgh during Banipal Live literary Tour. Mansoura Ez-Eldin looks at how Arab women are at the forefront of a literary revival in the Middle East.