An interview with Reda Mohamed Abdel Elrahim

Do you remember writing your first words of poetry? When was it Please tell us more about it. I started writing plays first, and it depends, as you know, on having a dialogue between a group of characters to discuss a particular topic ..In the theater, the dialogue between ideas comes first. In Al-Jammeh, i played plays such as the trial of Herodotus the letters of Cheops ,the Sons of Nott, all of which stemmed from my study of ancient Egyptian history and antiquities.

Did you have any early influences/inspirations? In elementary school, I was in charge of school radio, and I was president of the library community ..I also participated in inter-school cultural competitions ..And I still keep a collection of certificates and cups for this early cultural activity.

What/who started you writing poetry? I like to read poetry and taste it and used verses from it in my plays as well as in writing literary articles that I have recently, and often used verses of poetry in my writing of short stories as well, I consider myself a writer and not a poet, unfortunately, the poet is the only human able to create new, modern and innovative linguistic structures in any language in which he writes and old said You people, poets.

Does your background / heritage influence your writing? Please explain. As I mentioned earlier my writings are related to the history and ancient Egyptian civilization and this appears clear in the selection of topics my plays that I mentioned as well as in the selection of my literary articles, which deal with the relationship of the past to the present and the relationship of the past to the future also in my modern book entitled inspired Antiquities.

What subjects mostly inspires you to write? Why? I am now writing about the relationship between the ancient heavenly books and antiquities, a science that began in 1920 and how it was inspired by topics presented in a literary style to the masses; it reveals to them important facts that benefit them in their time.

Do you remember your first ever published work? Where, what was it? When? Tell me how you felt seeing your words in print. My first work printed in a book was my first collection of stories. Entitled Naous cry, in 2015 about the General Authority for palaces of culture after waiting five years to print and publish ..An indescribable feeling that she was my first-born, came after a long wait because of the routine at the publishing Institution, a government institution

What publication are you most proud to have your work published in, why? I wrote a book in travel literature entitled Days in Tokyo about my visit to Tokyo, the capital of Japan, which was printed and published in 2018، The book was well received by the Japanese Cultural Center in Cairo and the Japan International Cooperation Foundation (JICA), and I discussed it in several seminars between 2018-2020.

Do you have a favourite genre of poetry? Why? Tell me more about it. I like to read passionate and patriotic poetry as well as romantic, but patriotic poetry is good for my character.

What are your future plans as a writer/poet? I signed my new book contract on clay figurines, which is a collection of articles on the uses of clay in ancient Egyptian art, and I am now writing a new theatrical work on the revolution of monotheism during the reign of the ancient Egyptian King Akhenaten (1353B.c) and I have prepared a book on the cultural achievement of the Cairo International Book Fair.

What projects are you working on and why? Among my literary projects in the future is a biography and translations of some Egyptian literary figures from a community perspective such as writer Naguib Mahfouz, writer Mahmoud Abbas Al-Akkad and writer Mustafa Sadiq Al-Rafi، He also prepared a book entitled The Remains of time and its remains about the archaeological finds that I discovered over the course of twenty-five years is the age of my work in the Egyptian archaeological field.

Thank you a lot. With my Best Wishes Dr.Reda Mohamed Abed El Rahim Egypt