Idle, co-editor of the recently published compilation, returns to Cairo to share her inspiration with the bloggers she coordinated with as they discuss their accounts and share their stories of Tahrir Tweets from Tahrir, editedbyNADIA IDLE and ALEX NUNNS, London: OR Publishing, 2011. pp.234 "You People are Hypocrites! You talk about democracy but you won't let me run for President? Where is freedom?!" such were the words of fake Hosny Mubarak on Twitter. If you didn't have a chance to read it before, you will find it in the recently published Tweets from Tahrir. The book, a compilation of tweets from the 18 day uprising in Tahrir, was published in Europe and the US last March. Co-edited byNadia Idle and Alex Nunns, the latest book to touch on the 25 January Revolution has been well received by world media for its unique look at the events through the tweets of 60 bloggers. In her last visit to Cairo, Idle, an Egyptian-British Activist and SOAS scholar, arranged a group meeting with the bloggers at the Windsor Hotel last week to thank them for allowing her to use their tweets and to offer them copies of the book. She also gave a speech about how the idea of using tweets to recount the events of Tahrir came to her and how they would evolve in the book. A large cross-section of the bloggers were there: Sandmonkey, Gigi Ibrahim and many others were all talking and introducing themselves to the other bloggers with their twitter names. According to Idle, the book will be launched in Egypt and the Middle East by June and the publishers, OR Books, are planning to translate the book into Hindi as the 25 January Revolution had a strong affect in South East Asian Countries. As for translating the book into Arabic, Idle said that some bloggers expressed concern while others refused since they felt bad translations or being accused for their political words could unnecessarily get them tangled up with the current interim rulers, especially considering that one of the book's bloggers, Tarek Shalaby , was recently arrested and later released for taking part in the nakba protests in front of Cairo's Israeli embassy. According to the publisher's website, a portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to Egyptian grassroots revolutionary movements campaigning for democracy.
