Google executive behind Egyptian revolution gets US book deal

May 10, 2011, 2:42 GMT

New York - Wael Ghonim, the former Google executive who played a key role in fomenting the Egyptian revolution, has signed a book deal to tell his inside story, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt said Monday.

The book, to be called Revolution 2.0, will portray the role played by social media and internet technology in coalescing the broad public opposition to the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak, the publisher said.

Ghonim is widely regarded as one of the prime architects of the uprising after he started a Facebook page named We Are All Khaled Saied to pay tribute to a man killed while in Egyptian police custody.

'The implications of Wael's story reach far beyond the Middle East, and even beyond politics,' said Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publisher Bruce Nichols. 'How Wael helped nurture a mass movement is one of the great stories of our time, with lessons for anyone who seeks to make change anywhere on earth using technology.'

According to the statement Ghonim will write the book in Arabic and is in final negotiations with Arabic-language publishers. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards a non-profit organization founded by Ghonim.

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