Hey there,

We know Eid in Egypt is often tied to joy, togetherness, and the comfort of being surrounded by family and friends. But if this Eid also finds you carrying feelings of grief or loneliness, that does not make your experience any less valid. Loneliness and grief can surface even in moments meant for celebration, and there is something deeply human about holding both sorrow and joy at the same time.

It is part of life’s contradiction: trying to embrace celebration and connection while navigating the pain of your own. In this short edition, we explore gentle ways to cope with loneliness and grief during Eid and during any season of celebration.

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Maison Pyramide has partnered with Creative Industry Summit to launch the MP x C-S MarCom Award Program, a new initiative designed to support emerging brands. Through the program, four to five selected brands will receive strategic consultation and mentorship during the summit on June 3rd and 4th.

One winning brand will ultimately receive the MP x C-S MarCom Award, along with a one-year strategic sponsorship from Maison Pyramide and promotional support from both partners. Applications are now officially open for brands across Fashion, Lifestyle, Beauty, Wellness, Hospitality, and Culture. Deadline to apply is May 26th, 2026.

Discover more here.

For many young adults, connection has become strangely fragmented. Conversations happen constantly, yet intimacy feels rare. Social media floods daily life with updates, photos, and carefully curated happiness, but behind the screens, many people are struggling to feel genuinely seen. Being surrounded by people no longer guarantees closeness.

There is also an unspoken pressure to appear emotionally resilient. Vulnerability is often mistaken for weakness, especially for men raised to endure silently rather than articulate pain. Admitting loneliness can feel embarrassing, almost like confessing a personal failure. So people bury it beneath humor, busyness, relationships that don’t fulfill them, or endless scrolling through other people’s lives.

Loneliness is an emotion that most people have experienced at least once in their lives, and likely more often. Statistics worldwide show that young people are more likely to experience loneliness than those who are older.

Multiple studies have linked the trend to social media use, citing that loneliness is found more often in youth who use social media for longer hours. In 2015, a study on 300 Tanta University students proved a direct correlation between internet addiction and loneliness and depression. A secondary cause for loneliness in the youth demographic was found to be family and social relationships, especially romantic ones.

Read the article here.

Part memoir, part elegy, this collection moves through grief the way memory does, unevenly, tenderly, in fragments. Through poetry, prose, and intimate storytelling, Leena Magdi traces the quiet unraveling that follows sudden loss: the death of a brother, the shadow of war stretching across Sudan, and the disorienting aftermath of both. With raw vulnerability and lyrical reflection, the memoir invites readers into grief’s many rooms; its rage, numbness, longing, tenderness, and strange moments of beauty. In opening her own wounds to the light, the author reaches toward others carrying the weight of sudden loss, offering not answers, but companionship in the dark.

Read more here.

If your playlist has been missing a little sparkle lately, Alo!? / الو!? by Nour might be exactly what you need. Playful, catchy, and dripping with early 2000s nostalgia, the single feels like a love letter to the era of flip phones, dramatic ringtone calls, glittery pop hooks, and carefree late-night drives. It has that infectious energy that makes you want to roll the windows down and sing along after one listen.

Listen here.

While many feminist works often center on the liberation of women as something granted from outside forces, whether the state or other people, the Open Door frames liberation as equally an inward act, one rooted in a woman’s own will. It begins within her mind and culminates in her learning to understand love not only emotionally, but intellectually as well. Opening the door within her mind allows her to open the door to intellectual freedom, to the realization that love is not merely an emotion, but an act of understanding one’s core self. She comes to see that her identity is not confined to the walls of her bedroom or her home, but that her true self, as a woman, is connected to something far greater: the wider world, her homeland, and the universe itself.

Watch it here.

The United Nations World Food Programme in Egypt has partnered with Maison Choc for a first-of-its-kind initiative introducing Balady Bread Crisps, a product inspired by one of Egypt’s most iconic staples and designed to spotlight conversations around food security, sustainability, and supporting local communities. Blending crisp baladi bread with honey sourced from Mosaab, a Luxor-based farmer supported through WFP training programmes, and Maison Choc’s handcrafted chocolate, the collaboration brings together local ingredients with a deeper social purpose. As part of the initiative, Chef Clara, founder of Maison Choc, will also contribute a portion of proceeds from every purchase directly to WFP programmes across Egypt.

Find out more here.

On Taraddud, Youssra El Hawary transforms the everyday noise of Cairo into something immersive and unexpectedly melodic. The EP pulses with the city’s raw texture, fragments of conversations drifting through crowded streets, the sharp cry of sirens, the rhythm of metal shutters and passing bicycles, all blended into layered compositions that blur the lines between music and memory.

Marking her first release since 2017’s No’oum Nasyeen, the Cairo-based singer-songwriter and sound designer moves fluidly between jazz, folk, and ambient influences, crafting a soundscape that feels both intimate and sprawling.

The EP’s launch tour will also make a stop at French Institute Mounira, bringing the project’s layered sonic world to audiences in the heart of Cairo.

Find out more here.

While the lowlands edge toward summer heat, the highlands and canyons of the south-west and far north are just settling into their best season. Booking data for Eid Al-Fitr 2026 already shows Abha in Aseer region among the leading domestic destinations, alongside Jeddah and AlUla, as more Saudis choose to stay inside the Kingdom for their spring break. For anyone used to thinking of Saudi Arabia as a country of dunes and expressways, Aseer’s misted forests and Tabuk’s green canyons feel almost like another place.

Read more here.