Upper Egypt has been home to many intellectuals, writers and poets, such as Rifaah Rafi al-Tahtawi, leader of the scientific renaissance in Egypt in the mid-1800s, and Abdel Rahman El-Abnudi, one of the most prominent contemporary poets. Yet no publishing and distribution house can survive in the region’s hard economic conditions, bar one.

Hypatia Publishing House, the only book publisher located in Upper Egypt, is based in Edfu, a city located on the banks of the Nile River, 134 kilometers (83 miles) from Aswan. It takes its name from the prominent Egyptian Platonic philosopher and mathematician who was executed after being accused by the Byzantine Church of practicing magic, heresy and atheism.

This name was selected after long discussions among the founders, Mohammed Ali Ibrahim, director of the publishing house, told Al-Monitor.

"Our philosophy is absolute freedom in thought, creativity, expression and publication. Hypatia — who paid with her life to defend her ideas against the extremism of the church in the Hellenistic period in Egypt — is the embodiment of our ideals,” he said.