Draft:Nehal Allam

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  elbalad.news is an outlet whose reliability is in question 🇵🇸‍🇺🇦 Fiddle^Timtrent Faddle^Talk to me 🇺🇦‍🇵🇸 19:28, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

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Nehal Borhan El-Din Allam
نهال برهان الدين علام
Born	18 March Cairo
Occupations	Writer, Novelist, and Media Presenter
Children	2
Relatives	Nermin Allam (Sister)
Writing career
Language	Arab
Years active	2016-Present
Period	2019-Present
Notable works	Barw Atab Rigatoni Retweet: When Women Whisper Ana wal-Darwish

Nehal Allam (Arabic: نهال علام) is an Egyptian writer, novelist, and media presenter whose work spans literature, television, and journalism. Her published work includes Barw Atab (2019), Rigatoni (2020), Retweet: When Women Whisper (2022), and Ana wal-Darwish (2026). Alongside her literary work, Allam has presented social, political, and public-service programmes on Egyptian television and has contributed articles to newspapers and online publications.

Early Life

Nehal Allam was born in Cairo, Egypt. Allam grew up in a family closely connected to Egyptian broadcasting, where she spent part of her childhood around Maspero building and its studios. She has recalled visiting Maspero from an early age while becoming familiar with the programmes, presenters and production environment of Egyptian television. Her early exposure to broadcasting preceded her later career in television and media.

Allam studied at Ain Shams University, where she earned a (B.Com.) in Accounting and Finance with high honors. Her studies preceded her work in Egyptian television, journalism, and publishing.

Career

Publishing and writing

Allam's publishing career began with Barw Atab, released by Ibiidi Publishing in 2019. The book consists of social and reflective writings centered on relationships, women, memory, social customs, and everyday experiences. It was presented at the 2019 Sharjah International Book Fair, where Allam was among 1,502 authors who participated in a simultaneous book-signing event.The event was recognized by Guinness World Records for the largest number of authors signing their own books simultaneously at a single location.

Her second major literary work, Rigatoni, was published in 2020. The novel examines relationships and the influence of inherited social customs and expectations on women's lives. It received coverage in the Egyptian cultural press, including Al-Dostor and Al-Bawaba News, which discussed the novel's treatment of women, social conventions, and the tension between personal choice and established traditions.

Allam subsequently published Retweet: When Women Whisper. Ibiidi Publishing described it as her third work with the publishing house, following Barw Atab and Rigatoni, and included it among its releases associated with the 2023 Cairo International Book Fair.

In 2026, Allam published Ana wal-Darwish, a collection of creative prose structured around a series of thematic sections. The work addresses subjects including women, reading and knowledge, media, memory, and Egyptian and Arab social and cultural issues.

Alongside her books, Allam has written regularly for Egyptian newspapers and news websites, including Sada El-Balad, where her columns have covered social issues, culture, media and current affairs.

Media

Allam has worked as a television and media presenter alongside her writing career. Since 2016, Allam presented and co-presented social, political, and public-service programming on Egyptian satellite television. Her television work has included programmes dealing with social affairs, family issues, community concerns, culture, and current affairs. Published profiles of Allam have associated her with programmes including Khana Fadya, Le Bokra, Ma'a al-Nas, Pink 14, Shabab Rayek, and Sabahak Ya Baladi, in addition to radio and digital programming.

Allam has continued to work in television in parallel with her literary career. In 2025, she presented programmes on Al Hadath Al Youm. Her later television work has included Al-Hayah Helwa, Al-Motawer and Ma'a al-Nas. She has also presented interviews and programmes dealing with cultural and social subjects.

Memberships and Appointments

Allam serves as a member of the Media Committee of the World Forum for Media and Development. She is also a member of the 1000 Writers Initiative, a cultural initiative concerned with writing, publishing and supporting younger writers. Allam also serves as executive director of the Bel-Shabab Tahya al-Umam initiativeunder the patronage of the Ministry of Culture.

Alongside, Allam has taken part in activities organized by the General Union of Egyptian Writers, including cultural discussions connected with the Cairo International Book Fair.

Personal Life

Allam is the mother of a son and a daughter. Family life and motherhood have occasionally appeared in her personal writing, particularly in reflections on childhood, memory and family traditions. She has written about raising her children with traditions that she had known during her own childhood, including encouraging them to write down their hopes and goals and preserving their childhood letters as family keepsakes. In later reflections, she described the transition as her children grew older and became occupied with their own lives and responsibilities.

She is the sister of Egyptian political scientist Nermin Allam,an associate professor of political science at Rutgers University–Newark whose research focuses on gender politics and social movements in the Middle East and North Africa. Nermin Allam is the author of Women and the Egyptian Revolution: Engagement and Activism during the 2011 Arab Uprisings.

Views on Women and Society

Allam has frequently addressed questions of gender equality, women's social roles, family life and the treatment of women in Egyptian society. She has argued for equality between women and men in public and professional life, while rejecting the idea that differences between the sexes justify unequal treatment or opportunity. In a 2022 television interview, she said that women were capable of performing the same roles as men and argued that equality should take precedence over assumptions of male superiority.

Her commentary has also focused on the social pressures placed on women. She has criticized expectations that women simultaneously meet standards relating to marriage, appearance, motherhood, employment and domestic responsibilities, as well as the degree of scrutiny applied to women's personal choices. She has argued that equality should extend beyond access to education and employment to the way women are treated in everyday social life.

Allam has also spoken and written against domestic violence. In a 2022 column addressing violence within marriage, she rejected physical violence as a means of resolving family conflict and argued that violence within the home, whether directed at spouses or children, has lasting psychological and social consequences. She has similarly challenged interpretations of religious and social traditions used to justify violence against women.

Women's experiences and the influence of social conventions have also appeared as recurring subjects in Allam's literary work, particularly in Rigatoni, which addresses the effects of inherited customs and social expectations on women's lives.