Ursula Lindsey, co-author of Bulaq Books podcast, introduced this episode on 8 May 2025: “We had the great pleasure to do an episode of @bulaqbooks with old friend (and accomplished writer) Khaled Mansour. Khaled walked us through his recent exploration of Arab women’s autobiograpichal writing, a journey that began with his collaboration with Egyptian feminist and psychpsychoanalyst Afaf Mahfouz. As part of that project, he started reading other women’s memoirs and ended up gathering a list of 49 titles … including Latifa El Zayyat, Inji Eflatoun, Arwa Salih and many other artists, writers, and activists, whose writing offers unique insights into the collective history of the region. 

We also took a close look at the memoir of Palestinian militant Leila Khaled (who is famous for high-jacking and rerouting a flight from Tel Aviv to Damascus in 1969), “My People Shall Live.” It’s a truly fascinating account of youthful radicalism and idealism, and a window onto a particular historical moment. Although Khaled doesn’t focus much on her personal life (and that in itself is an interesting choice), she does give glimpses of what she calls “the problem of being a woman” within a radical anti-imperialist movement. Khaled will be sharing his own podcast on women’s autobiographical writing from the region with the world soon, in the meantime you can listen to our conversation.”