Angels of Cairo

“As Cairo passes by the window of Sami’s SUV, Cliff allows the city to speak. What has this ancient and illustrious metropolis imprinted on his mind during his short life? He reflects. The first thing that comes to him is a sensation: at times a coolness amid suffocating heat, at others a feeling of filth being washed away—of renewal, of a new life, a new hope.

Is it connected to the cycle of the Nile—the flowing current that renews the great river’s spirit, the flood and the ebb, then the flood again? Or to the beliefs of the ancients about the afterlife? All those monuments and famous tombs—great kings and queens buried with their servants so they would not have to wipe themselves in death? No, not that. Cliff tries to go deeper, to find the source.”

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Welsh writer Gary Raymond is a novelist, cultural critic, and broadcaster, and one of the prominent contemporary voices in the Welsh literary scene. He serves as editor of Wales Arts Review and hosts a cultural program on BBC Wales, while contributing regularly to a range of literary and journalistic platforms. He is the author of several novels, including The Golden Orphans and For Those Who Come After, alongside his critical writings that combine cultural analysis with sharp wit. His work is marked by a biting tone and a keen critical perspective on the contemporary world, with a particular focus on questions of identity, culture, and politics.