Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller by Nadia Wassef

In 2002, three young women with no business degrees, no formal training, and nothing to lose founded a fiercely independent bookstore. At the time, nothing like Diwan existed in Cairo. Culture was languishing under government mismanagement, and books were considered a luxury, not a necessity. Over the next decade, these three women would contend with censors, chauvinists, critics, one another and many people who said they would never succeed in establishing Diwan as Cairo’s leading bookstore.

Frank, fresh and very funny, Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller is a portrait of a country hurtling toward a revolution, a feminist rallying cry, and an unapologetic crash course in running a business under the law of entropy. Above all, it is a celebration of the power of words to bring us home.

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I’m not a huge fan of memoirs (although there are exceptions) but I found Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller intriguing, charting as it does the author’s experiences of launching and maintaining a bookshop with her sister, Hind, and their friend, Nihal, in a society that sees (or saw, at the time of their launch – things may have started to shift slightly in recent years) a woman’s value as a wife and mother rather than as a wage earner and someone who contributes to a household’s finances.

I thought that the structure of the book was very clever.  It’s split into sections representing the different areas of their bookshop, Diwan – cookery, classics, the café, self-help etc.  It’s a structure that allows for an exploration of the books stocked by Diwan as well as how various books have had a direct impact upon Nadia’s own life – either in relation to running Diwan, or on a more personal level. I particularly love the anecdote about Jamie Oliver’s books helping her in the kitchen!  It also allows the author to share the issues encountered in launching Diwan and their additional stores.  Some of these problems are predictable – as women, they face a huge amount of chauvinism and misogyny – as well as corruption at various levels.  Some of the issues they’ve faced were perhaps less predictable.  Nadia Wassef was propositioned by a customer, and in making their store a refuge for those (women) who need it, I’m not sure they expected it to be utilised by a sex-worker waiting for their next client.

Throughout the book, Nadia gives an honest account of herself.  She captures the things that went well and highlights the successes of Diwan, as well as the things that, with hindsight, could have been handled differently.  I liked the framing of each of those “failures” as a learning point – that to try and fail is better than to not try at all.  Nadia comes across as a formidable woman – one who suffers no fools, takes no prisoners, and who holds those around her accountable for their actions.  She swears a lot, something that was perhaps a little surprising for me personally, although I’m aware that this says more about me than it does about Nadia.  She is bold, funny, whip-smart, and more than willing to stand up for what she believes in.  I like her immensely. 

As well as covering Diwan and the business she ran, Nadia also covers more personal aspects of her life.  The birth of her two daughters and her hopes and aspirations for them, the discovery that husband number one (referred to throughout as Number One) was cheating on her and their subsequent divorce, her second marriage (to Number Two, naturally) and second divorce, and her eventual move away from Diwan and Cairo.  This serves as an excellent reminder that very little happens in isolation, and that we usually have multiple things going on at any one time.  I don’t get the sense that Nadia regrets any of her actions and the focus she gave to Diwan from the outset, and I think that, while it’s not stated explicitly, she would take the same approach given the chance to go back and do it all over again.

Nadia shares various anecdotes about the books sold, the store’s customers, and their expectations.  She also looks at the importance of bookshops within society and the comfort and respite that they can bring.  I think that for Diwan, this went a little above and beyond the usual, as Nadia describes the lack of public facilities available to women in Cairo, and how they made a conscious decision to open up their own facilities in response.  It shows the impact that bookshops and their owners can have, and the difference that can be made to their customers, even in the smallest ways. 

The launch and maintenance of Diwan is set against a Cairo, and indeed Egypt, in a period of turmoil.  The lingering impact of colonialism is apparent, as well as the divisions within society stemming from class, gender, and religion.  It makes the success of Diwan and the wider business all the more impressive and inspiring given this backdrop, particularly when considering the political upheaval within Egypt and wider global concerns such as the financial crisis.  That Diwan survived and succeeded is a testament to Nadia, Hind, and Nihal.

Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller is a short book that covers a surprising amount of detail. It’s a book that I would recommend to anyone, but particularly those who have ever found comfort in books and bookshops, or who have ever aspired to run their own.