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Chair of ECLT hooding a graduate student on stage

ECLT Featured Alumni

Studying at the American University in Cairo prepares students for a successful professional life. Everybody has a success story and we want to share some of our alumni success stories. We want everyone to know how great our alumni are and get inspired by their personal stories. 
  1. Academics
  2. Departments
  3. English and Comparative Literature
  4. Alumni
Nadia Wassef ’94 and Hind Wassef ’95
Chair of the Board, Vice-Chairperson and Member of the Board, Diwan Al-Sharq for Bookstores

The study of literatures furnishes you with an analytical mind and a critical view to all you read and hear. You look at something and always think how it could be made/said/written better. When surrounded by the pure genius of the human mind that produced texts you read every day, it is difficult not to aspire to perfection. 

Jala El Hadidi
Gala El Hadidi ’07
Opera Singer, Principal Soloist at The Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden Semperoper, Germany

Since opera as a classical musical theatre is almost always adapting major literary work, a study of English and Comparative Literature was, in fact, crucial to my development as an artist. My studies have, and still, are helping me in my process of preparation, interpretation, and delivery of my performances, and have definitely had a direct impact on my competing on an international level.  

Haifaa Al-Mansour ’97

Haifaa Al-Mansour ’97

International Film Maker and Director

She is the director of the 2005 documentary Women Without Shadows and the critically acclaimed Wadjda, the first film submitted by Saudi Arabia for Academy Award consideration. 

Showcasing her film and directing expertise with her movie shorts, The Bitter Journey (2005) and The Only Way Out (2001), Al-Mansour has continued to deliver — writing and directing Wadjda (2012) which made its premiere at the 2012 Venice Film Festival and is the first full-length feature shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. It was also the first Saudi Arabian submission for the Best Foreign-language Film category in the Oscars.Al-Mansour was selected by Foreign Policy among the top 100 global thinkers in 2013. 

Al-Mansour filmed the documentary Women Without Shadows (2005), which was shown at 17 international film festivals. It received the Golden Dagger for Best Documentary in the Muscat Film Festival. She has also directed Mary Shelley (2017) and Netflix’s Nappily Ever After (2018). She recently completed shooting her latest film, The Perfect Candidate (2020).