Naguib Mahfouz is one of the most important writers in contemporary Arabic literature. Winner of the Nobel Prize in 1988 (the only Arab writer to win the prize thus far), his novels helped bring Arabi
When Naguib Mahfouz quit his job as a civil servant in 1971, a Nobel Prize in literature was still off on the horizon, as was his global recognition as the central figure of Arab literature. He was ju
For years before the Egyptian revolution in January 2011 Alaa Al Aswany, author of the bestselling novelThe Yacoubian Building, had been a critic of the Mubarak regime. When the revolution broke out h
