Lina Atallah – Egyptian Writer and Editor

Before the doors to the newspaper, Egypt Independent were closed by the authorities in the country, Lina Atallah was the editor of it all. However, she managed to pick up the pieces and round up the young journalists from the paper and started Mada Masr, which is an online newspaper. The name Mada means “range” or “span” in Arabic combined with Masr, which refers to a “spot where a stone is placed on a ring” and symbolizes taking a position in Egyptian language.

Atallah launched the website in 2013, on a day when a mass demonstration was happening, calling for the resignation of Egypt’s president Mohammed Mursi. Mada Masr was her seventh attempt to start up a news venture in a country where the government controls the media.

When she is not editing Mada Masr, she can be found writing for many different publications like Al Masry Al Youm, Reuters, or Cairo Times. In 2016, Arabian Business named Atallah one of the 100 most influential young Arabs under 40 in the world.

The feminine name Lina means either “tender” or “palm tree” in Arabic. The Indian or Hindi name Lina means “united” or “absorbed” in Sanskrit. Finally, in many other languages, like Danish or Swedish, English or Croatian, the name is considered to be the short form of all names that end in -line, like Adelina or Karolina. There are many famous people with the name, from Lina Marengo the Italian actress to Lina Tsaldari the Greek politician.