Nadia Wassef is an owner of Diwan, Egypt’s first modern bookstore, which she cofounded in 2002 with her sister, Hind. She received an MFA from Birkbeck College at the University of London; a master’s in social anthropology from the University of London; and a master’s in English from American University in Cairo. Before Diwan, she worked in research and advocacy for the Female Genital Mutilation Taskforce and in the Women and Memory Forum. Featured on the Forbes List of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the Middle East in 2014, 2015, and 2016, Wassef’s work has been covered in Time, Monocle, Business Monthly, and elsewhere. She lives in London with her two daughters.