Pauline Kaldas is a writer and a Professor of English & Creative Writing at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.  She received a BA in Business and English from Clark University, an MA in English from The University of Michigan, and my Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing from Binghamton University. 

Pauline came to the US with my parents when she was eight years old in 1969. Her parents made the decision to immigrate to the US during a period when many others were also seeking new opportunities, after the 1967 war. The US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 had made it easier to immigrate. Pauline didn’t want to leave Egypt or her family, and wasn’t happy about the move. 

Making the transition to the US was difficult for Pauline. Although she had attended an English language school in Egypt, the American English she heard in Boston differed significantly from what she had learned. It took her approximately six months to begin understanding conversations around her. Moreover, as an only child accustomed to the company of cousins and a large extended family in Egypt, in the US, it was just her and her parents. She missed spending time with my cousins and being around my family.

She and her husband have two daughters. Their older daughter, Yasmine, was born in Egypt during their time there in the 1990s. Yasmine has recently earned her Ph.D. in English and plans to pursue a career in publishing. Their younger daughter, Celine, was born in the US. She has just completed her Master’s degree in Art Education and works as both an artist and a teacher.

Pauline tried to teach her daughters Arabic when they were young, but it became difficult once they started school. Both of them studied Arabic in college, and their language skills improved.  

Most of the time, raising her daughters posed no particular challenges. However, during political events occurring in the Arab world, her daughters occasionally faced insulting and racist comments. As a family, they would discuss these incidents and provide the girls a chance to express their feelings. Given her husband’s African American heritage, both parents empathized deeply with their daughters’ experiences. Nevertheless, witnessing their children endure such behavior was always difficult.

Her pride in her Egyptian heritage reflects on her daughters. She believes they perceive her cultural pride through her emotional connection to her homeland. She has shared stories with them about her early years in Egypt and about their family. Moreover, she has taken them to Egypt several times, so they could get to know Egypt through their own experiences. Living there for six months during their early years, strengthened their connection to Egypt and their extended family. “From our trips to Egypt, our house is filled with things like Bedouin pillows, Egyptian tapestries, Egyptian instruments, and mother of pearl items.  These items are a constant part of our lives and a reminder of our homeland,” Pauline says. 

About the importance of maintaining the Egyptian identity, Pauline says, “I am Egyptian, so that identity is always with me.  I don’t think it’s something I have to achieve; rather it’s something I live.  It happens when I invite people to my home and cook three times the amount of food needed, when I’m always running a little late, and when I refuse to sweep at night because it’s bad luck.  I’m being light-hearted here, but what I mean is that it’s not always so easy to identify the cultural habits that we have, that they are embedded in us.  

Pauline watches some Egyptian movies and shows.  Since she left in the 1960s, she still enjoys some of the movies from that time. She also likes watching t new shows, and she still listens to  Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez.

Pauline prepares Egyptian dishes that she learned from her mother, who continued cooking them after they moved to the US. “I make dishes like molekhia, stuffed grape leaves, and kofta. I also enjoy preparing traditional foods such as ful, falafel, and koshari. I often prepare Egyptian desserts like baklava, basboosa, and konafa. During the holidays, I also bake kahek and ghoriaba.”

As a Copt, Pauline still celebrates Christmas on January 7 and Coptic Easter.  “My favorite holiday is Sham el Nessim, but this one is harder to celebrate in America.”

She has visited Egypt several times. From 1990 to 1993, her husband, T.J. Anderson III, an African American poet, and she lived in Egypt, where they both taught at The American University in Cairo. These three years were transformative for her. She reconnected with her extended family, who welcomed both her and her husband.  Living in Egypt helped her to understand her country from an adult perspective. 

Teaching at The American University in Cairo brought her joy, as it was where she felt most at home. The students she taught were fluent in both Arabic and English, navigating between Western and Egyptian cultures. It became a place where she felt a sense of belonging.

Pauline and her family lived in Egypt for six months in 2002 when her husband had a Fulbright at Cairo University. Their daughters were five and eight years old at the time, attending school and fully immersing themselves in the culture. Her book, “Letters from Cairo,” came out of this trip, which she considers a family memoir.

When Pauline sees the Egyptian flag or hear the national anthem, she feels a strong sense of connection.  “Egypt holds the first things I saw, smelled, tasted, heard, and touched.  My first sensory experiences are grounded in the landscape of Egypt, and I still feel a strong sense of attachment to my homeland.” 

Pauline is always proud of her heritage and identity as an Egyptian woman.  “A particular moment when I felt this was during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.  Seeing the people of my country, especially the youth, come together to form this incredible movement and express their desire for positive change in our country made me very proud.  It was especially meaningful to see people of all genders and religions join together in this revolution,’ she says.

The cultural and societal challenges that Pauline faced stemmed mainly from ignorance, as there was very little accurate information about Egypt in the US, particularly in 1969 when she first moved. Her classmates asked her if she lived in pyramids and owned a camel. This was the only picture of Egypt in their history.  As an adult, I’ve been asked if I have to wear a veil when I go to Egypt, if Egypt is in Africa, and why Arabs hate the Jews.  

The cultural and societal challenges that Pauline faced stemmed mainly from ignorance, as there was very little accurate information about Egypt in the US, particularly in 1969 when she first moved. Her classmates would ask if she lived in pyramids or owned a camel, as this was the only picture of Egypt in their history books. As an adult, she has been asked if she has to wear a veil when she visits Egypt, if Egypt is in Africa, and why Arabs hate Jews. “It’s frustrating to be confronted with these questions, but I have always tried to see them as an opportunity to educate and to correct the misconceptions.  I’ve also tried to do that in my teaching and in my writing.  My books take place in the city of Cairo where I grew up as a child and where I lived when I returned to Egypt.  As a writer, I try to present the complexity of Egyptian culture,” explains Pauline.

She is most proud of her education, teaching career, and accomplishments as a writer. Her father was the first in his family to receive a college education, and she was able to earn her PhD. Both her daughters have also earned graduate degrees. She has had a successful career as a Professor of English & Creative Writing. Fulfilling her dream, she has published five books, including a textbook, and co-edited two anthologies of Arab American literature. Her latest work, *The Measure of Distance*, is a multigenerational novel that traces the immigrant experience of an Egyptian family, beginning in the late 1800s and concluding with the Egyptian revolution. In addition to writing her own books, she has also contributed to making visible the work of other Arab American writers.

She often confronted stereotypes about Egyptian women, such as the misconception that all Egyptians are Muslim. Coming from a Coptic Orthodox family, she frequently corrected this assumption. There were also common beliefs that women in Egypt  lacked education, were confined to domestic roles, and were controlled by men. She shared stories of the accomplished women in her family to show their educational achievements, professional careers, and strong personalities. In her role as a Professor of English & Creative Writing, she taught courses on Arab Women Writers, to show her students the long history of feminism in the Arab World.

Pauline believes it is important for immigrants to integrate into society. “There are many ways to integrate into a new society. America was a multicultural nation from the moment it was founded, and it is the diversity in this country that provides its greatest strength. While it’s important to integrate, it’s equally important to hold onto our cultures. We also need to understand that our presence here can affect and change American culture, that we have something valuable to offer. Culture is not static but constantly changing, and immigrants are an important part of that change,” she says. 

She also advises Egyptian women who are considering moving to or are currently living in the USA to cherish everything positive about their Egyptian identity and to take pride in it, even if some may not understand or appreciate it.  She encourages them to embrace what they like about  American life and to remain open to new ideas and experiences. Pauline emphasizes that the American dream goes beyond economic success—it also offers opportunities to pursue passions and engage in meaningful work. She urges women to embrace both cultures, allowing themselves to cultivate their own values and way of life.

“Coming to the US at the age of eight has shaped my life in significant ways.  I often wonder who I would’ve been and what kind of life I would’ve had if we had remained in Egypt.  While immigration has resulted in the absence of family and the loss of a sense of belonging, it has also given me my education, my writing, and the incredible family I have created.  My life has expanded by living in the US.  I have friends from all over the world, and I have travelled to many places.  It is what we make with what we are given that truly matters,” Pauline concludes. 

Pauline Kaldas is the author of The Measure of Distance (novel), Looking Both Ways (essays), The Time Between Places (stories), Letters from Cairo (memoir), Egyptian Compass (poetry), and the textbook, Writing the Multicultural Experience.  She also co-edited Dinarzad’s Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction and Beyond Memory: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Creative Nonfiction.  She was awarded a fellowship in fiction from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and has been in residency at MacDowell, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow, and Green Olive Arts in Morocco.  She is Professor of English and Creative Writing at Hollins University.  www.paulinekaldas.com