This year, marking the 150th anniversary of the Russian bard’s birth on January 29, the 42nd Cairo International Book Fair invited Russia as the guest of honor. With the revival of Russo-Egyptian cultural dialogue and the presence of Chekhov’s work in the Talaat Harb, one feels compelled to be literary. The morning of February 20, 2010, saw the much-awaited return of Mohammad Al-Baradai. A son of the 1952 revolution, he is very much like the merchant Lopakhin, albeit more vatic and hoped-for; Mubarak’s regime is much like the hapless Ranevsky family and their landowning posse.