TECH :Egypt 'tweets' to appear as a book

A US publisher plans to come out with a book next month featuring a collection of Twitter messages sent during the protests in Egypt that led to the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak.

The 160-page book, "Tweets from Tahrir," named for the Cairo square at the epicentre of the anti-government protests, is to be published on April 21 by OR Books.

OR Books said the collection "brings together a selection of key tweets in a compelling, fast-paced narrative" and paints "an exhilarating picture of an uprising in real-time."

"Raw emotion bursts from their messages, whether frantic alarm at attacks from pro-government thugs or delirious happiness at the fall of the dictator," it added.

"To read these tweets is to embark a rollercoaster ride, from the surprise and excitement of the first demonstration, to the horror of the violence that claimed hundreds of lives, to the final ecstasy of victory."

Edited by activists Nadia Idle and Alex Nunns with a foreword by author Ahdaf Soueif, the book will cost $12 in paperback and $10 as an electronic book.