Mahfouz, Naguib (1911–2006)
Egyptian novelist and playwright. His novels, which deal with the urban working class, include the semi-autobiographical Khan al-Kasrain/The Cairo Trilogy (1956–57). His book Children of Gebelawi (1959) was banned in Egypt because of its treatment of religious themes. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988.
His other novels include Al-Lis s wa-al-Kilab/The Thief and the Dogs (1961), Al-Shah h adh/The Beggar (1965), and Miramar/Miramar (1967). He was seriously wounded in a knife attack by Islamic militants outside his home in Cairo in October 1994.
| The Cairo Trilogy was originally published as Bayn al-Qasrayn/The Castle of Desire (1956), Qasr ash-Shawq/Between the Two Castles (1957), and as-Sukkariyya/The Sugar Bowl (1957). |
