The truth is that my project as a candidate for the first time for a position on the General Union of Writers in Egypt is to establish an integrated city for writers, the first of its kind in the Arab world. This city will include offices and personal museums over an area of 38 square meters. Each office will consist of a closed writing space, a reception area with a small bathroom, an open kitchen, and a small green terrace. The remaining four square meters will be designated as a glass museum for the writer, showcasing their printed and digital works, radio recordings, a small smart screen displaying their biography and achievements in writing, as well as personal memorabilia, awards, and certificates of appreciation.

Additionally, the city will encompass all types of logistics that a writer may need, including publishing houses, writing tools, artificial intelligence centers, banks, a comprehensive market, a hospital, a theater, a conference hall, a cinema, and cultural museums as tourist attractions. It will also feature eight specialized research centers: one for poetry, another for novels, a third for short stories, a fourth for literary criticism, a fifth for theater and folk studies, a sixth for scriptwriting and broadcasting, a seventh for digital arts and artificial intelligence, and the eighth for studies on creative economy.

Moreover, there will be personal museums as well as public museums dedicated to the profession of writing, along with numerous integrated services. All of this will operate under a usufruct system for the life of the writer, at a very nominal fee, with closed circulation between the Writers’ Union and its projects only. Distribution will be based on seniority of membership. The feasibility study has confirmed that it will not cost the union a single pound; rather, it will generate profits that allow for providing adequate health services to writers for free and increasing the writer’s pension to 5,000 pounds in the first stage.

In reality, the city of writers is not just a dream but a comprehensive project for members of the General Union of Writers in Egypt, aimed at two main goals: to protect the profession of writing in all its meanings and to develop it to keep pace with rapid changes and challenges while simultaneously protecting the writer both materially and morally. It seeks to place writers in their rightful position and provide them with all essential services with dignity and ease, allowing them to focus on their mission as the vanguard of safeguarding the identity, values, development, and progress of their community.

The project is ready, complete with feasibility studies, proposed implementation bodies, and stages of execution based on a specific timeline. I hope this will be a pivotal transformation that positions Egyptian writers in the esteemed place they deserve and that we aspire for them, both materially and literarily on all fronts. I say to my fellow Egyptian writers, if we have a past we are proud of, and we live in a present that we appreciate for the efforts made, even if it doesn’t fulfill all our aspirations, we must look towards a future we need to cross into. We can only reach that future by uniting all Egyptian writers around the goal of developing the writing profession, protecting the dignity and rights of writers, and maximizing their gains, which in turn will enhance the gains of the entire nation.