In what I’m afraid will be a regular feature, I’d like to mention a few books that were recently confiscated from Cairo book stores. The Arabist has already mentioned Egypt’s first graphic novel, by Magdy Al Shafaa’ee (a selection from which was published at Words Without Borders). The reason for this confiscation is officially a charge of “offending public morality” but it most likely has to do with the identity of the publisher, Mohammed Sharqawy (an activist whose torture in 2006 by police became a cause célèbre).  read more »