Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006)

Awarded the Prize “for who, through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind.”

Egyptian novelist dramatist. Mahfouz was born in Cairo on December 11, 1911. He began writing when he was seventeen. His first novel was published in 1939. He was a student of philosophy, graduating from the University of Cairo in 1935. He was Director of Censorship in the Bureau of Art, Director of the Foundation for the Support of the Cinema, consultant on Cultural Affairs to the Ministry of Culture. He died on August 30, 2006 in Cairo, Egypt.
Major Works:
Palace Walk (1956); Palace of Desire (1956); Sugar Street (1957); Children of the Alley (1967); The Day Leader Was Killed (1985)