AUC Caravan

By Sarah Diaa

Tamer Sergany, a junior, majoring in Business Administration, and Rania El Embaby, a junior, majoring in Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), were only having a casual conversation before their idea to create a writing club turned serious and was introduced to the entire community at the American University in Cairo.

 After Rania proposed the idea to her friend Dina Elabd, the three students went about to create Writing for a Third World Nation (WTWN).

 “WTWN is more than a club, it’s one of the best outlets AUC offers for self-expression and pride in one’s work,” explained Sergany, Public Relations Manager. “We are the means of portraying AUC’s creative talent into something tangible; something that can be appreciated by AUC and Egypt alike.”

 The club is currently working on publishing a book, which they named “Collective Works Book”. It will include Arabic and English pieces of writing and art work, such as paintings and photography, all of which were submitted by its members.

 An editors committee was created to objectively and carefully pick every piece for the book.

 There will be an opening ceremony on May 4 in Moataz El Alfy Hall where copies of the book will go on sale for the first time. The price is yet to be determined.

 “Every writer’s dream is to get his or her name published on a book and that is exactly why we got into this club; to see our names published and experience that feeling,” WTWN member Haidy Zakaria said.

 “Our club hopes to become a spotlight for creativity in AUC,” Elabd, the club’s President, said.

 WTWN has also been promoting a writing competition that the university is holding, called Madalyn Lamont Award in Creative Writing. The competition was named after Madalyn Lamont, a gifted writer who taught at AUC in the 1980’s. Entries can be fiction, drama or poetry and the winners will be honored at an award ceremony next March.

 Aside from that, WTWN creates its own competitions on the popular social networking site Facebook. Last week, the club had two writing competitions where the winner, who is yet to be announced, will be awarded an invitation to attend the speech Queen Rania of Jordan will give in AUC. This event, which will be held in Bassily Hall on February 28, is not open for the public or the entire AUC community.

 The club also holds meetings with the members to discuss future events.

 “I think the meetings allow each member to show their pride and honor through reading their work,” Sergany said. Zakaria also agreed that it was a place for writers to share their pieces and critique each other.

 “The meetings give us perspectives of other people’s writings as well as ours,” Zakaria added. “They allow us to get new ideas and have our voices heard.”

 Though the club was created only last fall, it has 50 committed members and 100 documented members.

 “This club allows people to develop their own perspective through creativity without being chained to a traditional one,” Vice-President, El Embabay said.