Spaces between the Nile and the True North: Negotiating Egyptian-Canadian Cultural Fusion - Paperback

Spaces Between the Nile and the True North traces Mohsen Rifaat's journey from British-occupied and revolutionary Egypt to a new life in Canada. He moved through languages, cultures, and across many lands, navigating challenges both personal and geopolitical. Along the way, he uncovers intriguing historical interactions between Egypt and Canada - including how a war on Egyptian soil helped hasten Canada's adoption of the iconic maple-leaf flag, and the much-appreciated rescue of an important Cairo heritage building from the wrecker's ball by a Canadian ambassador.

Illustrated with his own artwork, this memoir blends memory, history, cultural hybridity, and what it means to find a place called home.

Review by Crystal Hurdle:

Spaces between the Nile and the True North: Negotiating Egyptian-Canadian Cultural Fusion, witty and wise Mohsen Rifaat, architect, urban planner, diplomat, husband, father, formerly from Egypt and now rooted in Canada, tracks his identity like prey. Straddling several worlds (geographical, professional) on his creative journey, he exists in the spaces in between and allows the reader to linger in such liminality. For example, during his art exhibition in Cairo in 2008, he hosts both the Canadian ambassador and the Egyptian minister of culture, "feeling less like an artist than a character in a mob movie." His life becomes a literal and metaphorical collage, the rich text embedded with his images: sumptuous watercolours, blueprints, sketches, photos, and ephemera, a sensory delight. Riding the early waves of the Egyptian diaspora to retirement in North Vancouver, surfing Rifaat discovers that he is not a misfit as feared, but a humane, funny, and worldly renaissance man.

- Crystal Hurdle, BA (Honours), MA, Diploma in Applied Linguistics. Faculty Emeritus, Capilano University, British Columbia.

Author of Ted & Sylvia, Teacher's Pets, Sick Witch, and Syl-Lo-Therapy.