When I agreed to read the first piece I’d written for Rowayat Gemeza, I hadn’t expected just what would happen. Gemeza is the children’s magazine of Rowayat, a brilliant Egyptian journal of literature published annually. I’d written a piece about the Arab wise fool Goha, titled: Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Who is the funniest of them all? Goha, of course!
Two volunteers were chosen from the audience to act out the part of Goha as I read his story, as translated by Denys Johnson. They dressed the part in scarves picked up in Siwa and mimed the character into life. Who knew, centuries later, Goha would take the form of such lovely young ladies?
Dina Elabd 