Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo in 1911 and graduated with a degree in philosophy from Cairo University in 1934. Mahfouz earned recognition throughout the Arab world with The Cairo Trilogy (1956-57) (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire and Sugar Street). Over the course of his career, he wrote more than 30 novels and in 1988 became the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Children of Gebelawi (1959) however, with its portrayal of God and the prophets as characters, was banned in his homeland as blasphemous and earned Mahfouz harsh criticism throughout the Islamic world. In fact, Mahfouz was stabbed in the neck by Islamic extremists outside of his home in Cairo in 1994 at the age of 82. He was hospitalized for seven weeks after the incident and suffered debilitating nerve damage and a resulting deterioration of his health.

In July 2006, Mahfouz fell during a midnight stroll and suffered a head injury. He died on August 30, 2006 at the age of 94, the oldest living Nobel laureate in Literature.

Naguib Mahfouz's books include:

Between the Palaces 1953
Palace of Longing 1953
Sugarhouse 1953
Fountain and Tomb: A Novel 1988
Wedding Song 1989
The Thief and the Dogs 1985
The Beginning and the End 1985
Respected Sir 1990
The Day the Leader was Killed 1990
The Time and the Place and Other Stories 1991
The Journey of Ibn Fattouma 1993
Adrift on the Nile 1993
Miramar 1993
The Harafish 1994
Arabian Nights and Days 1995
Children of the Alley 1996
Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth 2000
Thebes at War 2004
The Dreams 2005

Egyptian

(1911 - )

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