How an Egyptian Prison Poem Came to Structure My Memoir

The author wrote their memoir, titled Huna, in English, despite it being a story deeply rooted in Egyptian experiences.

English is not the author’s first language, as they are Egyptian, which creates a linguistic and cultural tension.

The title Huna means here in Arabic, symbolizing the author’s connection to Egypt even while writing in another language.

The memoir covers six years of political imprisonment in Egypt, the Egyptian revolution, and the author’s subsequent exile in the United States.

Writing in English introduces a contradiction: the language of the memoir is foreign to the author’s native context, yet it becomes the medium through which their story is told to a global audience.