Dubai Women’s College hosts Egyptian author Ghada Abdel Aal

Dubai Women’s College (DWC) hosted today Egyptian author Ghada Abdel Aal as part of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature’s Education Day. Ms. Aal’s fame as an author sprouted from her blog, “I Want to Get Married” when her blog became so successful that it was turned into a published book. 

During her visit to DWC, Ms. Ghada shared with DWC students, and other HCT students via webcast, her experiences of being a single Muslim woman being subjected to the pressure of various matchmaking attempts or to face social isolation. “I didn’t expect that my blog “I Want to Get Married!” to become a hit and then a best-selling book in Egypt and the inspiration for a television series,” Ghada told students.

Ghada explained to students that people tell always the young girl that her only bright future is in her husband's home. So what happens when a girl for any reason cannot get married. Should she set fire to herself?" she commented.

Dr. Howard Reed, Senior HCT Director, and Director of DWC said, “Reading is a critical aspect of learning, but yet it is not a well-developed habit amongst Emirati students. The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is a great opportunity for our students to be exposed to great authors from around the world.  We are especially pleased that DWC students have an opportunity to participate in the Education Day part of the Festival of Literature.”

From her part, Robin Bishop library supervisor added, “One of the benefits of having authors visit the campus is to promote a culture of reading among students.  We believe that by exposing students to a variety of authors we are helping encourage them to develop a lifelong habit of reading”.