How to describe a friend of nearly twenty years?  Actually, I first met Neil in a professional capacity when the former director of AUC Press, Marc Linz, accepted to publish Cairo The Family Guide, in 1998. During that project, I got to know Neil as a person who was unsparingly generous with his expertise. Over the years, we became friends and I discovered things such as his love for gingerbread and the Egyptian dessert, Om Ali. As years passed, I knew Neil as an avid nature and wildlife photographer, Fayoum farmer, intrepid birdwatcher, Arab literature translator, elephant enthusiast, fellow adventurer, meticulous editor, desert explorer and generous friend. My favorite book that Neil translated (which I have read four times and has all the qualities of a riveting opera) , is The Wedding Night by Yusef Abu Rayya.

Neil’s life spans from England to Egypt to New Zealand brings together many adventures, friends and colleagues. This post and short video is to add to those voices in saying thank you to Neil for his years at American University in Cairo Press.  A sincere and deep wish to Neil that retirement is all and more than his thirty-one years at The Press .

On an American Research Centre Egypt trip to Tanzania.

For more about Neil’s career read: Here’s to you Neil! (October 2017 e-Newsletter)

Read:  Celebrating Neil Hewison: An Excerpt from His Translation of ‘City of Love and Ashes’ by Marcia Lynx Qualey, freelance cultural journalist at Arabic Literature in English

Read:  5 Books: Neil Hewison’s Most Memorable Books from 31 Years at AUC by Marcia Lynx Qualey, freelance cultural journalist at Arabic Literature in EnglishPress

The photo credits and link to the events and photograph in the video are listed below. The e-newsletter and event photographs used in this video are credited to Ingrid Wassmann,

http://www.aucpress.com/t-newsarchiveitem.aspx?NewsID=238

http://www.aucpress.com/t-newsarchiveitem.aspx?NewsID=283

http://www.aucpress.com/t-enewsletter-MonaPrince-February2015.aspx?

http://www.aucpress.com/t-eNewsletter-NeilHewison-October2017.aspx?

http://www.aucpress.com/t-eNewsletter-MargoVeillonGallery.aspx?template=template_enewsletter

http://www.aucpress.com/t-eNewsletter-BookFestivalZaghloul-June2012.aspx?template=template_enewsletter

http://www.aucpress.com/t-eNewsletter-GrandHotelsEvent-March2012.aspx?template=template_enewsletter

http://www.aucpress.com/t-eNewsletter-MuseumStorePhotoGallery-January2011.aspx?template=template_enewsletter

http://www.aucpress.com/t-eNewsletter-BookFairAuthorsGallery.aspx?template=template_enewsletter

http://www.aucpress.com/t-enewsletter-djd-may2012.aspx