Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes: Alya Mooro

I recently caught up with Alya Mooro, Cairo-born, London-based journalist, and author of The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes.

We talked to Alya about her multi-cultural childhood, why she wouldn’t let the world define her, and why multi-faceted representation of Middle Eastern women matters. Here’s her story:

Newnham: Can you tell us about your background — what were you like growing up in Egypt?

Mooro: My childhood consisted of a lot of moving around. I was born in Cairo and lived there until I was five, Geneva until I was eight then London until I was twelve at which point my family moved back to Cairo for a year, then back to London, where I’ve lived ever since.

Moving around so much was very unsettling and in typical teen angst I was livid at my parents for subjecting me to always being the new girl at school. In hindsight, I’m happy I had the opportunity to build full lives in both Cairo and London. That insight and the fact that I essentially have a bird’s eye view to both cultures is in part what has allowed me to write The Greater Freedom.

Newnham: Can you tell us how you found the transition to a different country and culture?