There are no heroes in most of my stories. I look at our society with a critical eye and find nothing extraordinary in the people I see.

If you want to move people, you look for a point of sensitivity, and in Egypt nothing moves people as much as religion.

We used the Western style to express our own themes and stories. But don't forget that our heritage includes The Thousand and One Nights.

As the tension eases, we must look in the direction of agriculture, industry and education as our final goals, and toward democracy under Mr Mubarak.

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

In Egypt today most people are concerned with getting bread to eat. Only some of the educated understand how democracy works.