Alaa Al Aswany
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 Alaa Al Aswany |
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| Occupation | writer |
|---|---|
| Language | Arabic |
| Nationality |  Egypt |
| Ethnicity | Egyptian |
| Citizenship | Egypt |
Alaa al-Aswany (Arabic: علاء الأسواني, IPA: [ʕæˈlæːʔ elɑsˈwɑːni]) (born 1957) is an Egyptian writer, and a founding member of the political movement Kefaya.
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[edit] Biography
Alaa Al Aswany studied to be a dentist, first in Egypt, and then later Chicago.[1] He earned his Masters Degree in dentistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago where he spent 17 years of his life. Al-Aswany has contributed numerous articles to Egyptian newspapers on literature, politics, and social issues. His second novel, The Yacoubian Building, an ironic depiction of modern Egyptian society, has been widely read in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. It has been translated into English, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Polish, Greek and Dutch. It was adapted into a film (2006) and a television series (2007) of the same name.
Aswany’s name has also been included in the list of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World, [2] issued by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Amman, Jordan. He was number one in The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers list 2011.
Chicago, a novel set in the city in which the author was educated, was published in January 2007.
Al-Aswany participated in the Blue Metropolis literary festival in Montreal, June 2008 and April 2010, and was featured in interviews with the CBC programme Writers and Company.
[edit] Bibliography (in Arabic)
- 2002: Imārat Ya‘qūbiān, (Arabic: عمارة يعقوبيان, "Yacoubian Building")
- 2004: Nīrān sadīqa, (Arabic: نيران صديقة, "Friendly Fire")
- 2007: Chicago, (Arabic: شيكاجو)
- 2010: Limatha la Yathour El Masriyoon, (Arabic: لماذا لا يثور المصريون؟, "Why Don't Egyptians Revolt?")
- 2011: Hal nastahiqq al-dimoqratiyya?, (Arabic: هل نستحق الديمقراطية؟, "Do We Deserve Democracy?")
[edit] English translations
- Alaa al Aswany, Friendly Fire: Ten Tales of Today’s Cairo, Humphrey Davies (translator), The American University in Cairo Press, 2008
- Alaa al Aswany, Chicago, Farouk Abdel Wahab (translator), The American University in Cairo Press, 2008
- Alaa al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, HarperPerennial, 2007
- Alaa al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, Fourth Estate, 2007
- Alaa al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, Humphrey Davies (translator), HarperPerennial, 2006
- Alaa al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, Humphrey Davies (translator), The American University in Cairo Press, 2004
[edit] Notes
- ^ McCarthy, Rory (2006-02-27). "Dentist by day, top novelist by night". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/feb/27/fiction.egypt.
- ^ The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. "The 500 Most Influential Muslims" (PDF). The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. http://www.rissc.jo/docs/0A-FullVersion-LowRes.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
[edit] References and external links
- Kostyal, Karen, "Alaa Al Aswany: Voice of Reason" (Interview with the author), National Geographic Interactive, nd.
- Mishra, Pankaj. "Where Alaa Al Aswany Is Writing From", New York Times Magazine, April 27, 2008.
- Salama, Vivian, "A Tale of Some Egyptian: As Yacoubian Building Heads West, the Author Discusses the Story's Message", Daily Star Egypt, December 8, 2005.
- Alaa Al Aswany interviewed by Jonathan Heawood, English PEN at the London Book Fair, 2008, podcast [1]
- Watch a video interview with Alaa al Aswany talking about Chicago on The Interview Online
- Interview with Alaa al Aswany at the World Book Club [2]
- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97897234
- Review of "Chicago" in The Ambassadors Online Magazine, July 2009 [3]
