Gamal al-Ghitani

Gamal al-Ghitani (1945–2015) is one of Egypt's greatest writers. He was born in 1945 and educated as a tapestry-maker in rural Cairo. He wrote his first work when he was sixteen and became a war reporter at the age of twenty-three. He has written thirteen novels and six collections of short stories, including his best known work, Zayni Barakat (AUC Press, 2004) and The Zafarani Files (AUC Press, 2009). Ghitani’s many honors include the Egyptian State Prize for the Novel, the French Chevalier de l’Order des Arts et des Lettres, the Egyptian State Prize for Literature, and Egypt’s Nile Award in Literature.