Preaching to the converted
The attempt by Arab intellectuals to forge a "new cultural discourse" focussed too much on reforming religious ones, writes Amina Elbendary

Four participants assess and digress
Any assessment of a conference about renewing cultural (including religious) discourse must take on board two entirely separate topics...

Plain Talk
I am obsessed by the purity of language. This might be because I learnt English the hard way, studying Nesfield's English Grammar or because my graduate studies were in philology...
By Mursi Saad El-Din

Palimpsests of a lost paradise
Two Paris exhibitions reveal the variety and multi-layered history of the Algerian Sahara, writes David Tresilian

Summertime, Sobhi-time
Amal Chouchri Catta remembers summer in the 1980s

A diwan of the everyday
Al-Ahram's Diwan project celebrates its 500th issue, writes Amina Elbendary