Alaa Al-Aswany
was born in 1957 and educated at the Lycée Français in Cairo, Cairo University, and the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is a prolific writer of short stories, novels, literary essays, and articles on social and political issues. His second novel is the best-selling The Yacoubian Building (Arabic 2002, English translation AUC Press, 2005), and has been adapted for a high-budget film, directed by Egyptian director Marwan Hamed. Al-Aswany trained as a dentist and had his first office in the Yacoubian Building. He lives in Cairo.
Contributor's Issues
Banipal No 25 Spring 2006
Latest News
16/05/2012Mexican author Carlos Fuentes dies, aged 83
[read more]15/05/2012
80-year-old Aharon Appelfeld's novel wins UK Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
[read more]04/05/2012
Three Percent's 2012 Best Translation – winners are Wieslaw Mysliwski’s Stone Upon Stone and Kiwao Nomura’s Spectacle & Pigsty
[read more]28/04/2012
TRIPOLI INTERNATIONAL POETRY FESTIVAL
Organised by Ashur Etwebi and Khaled Mattawa
[read more]14/04/2012
14 April to 27 May
I See Infinite Distance Between Any Point and Another
New film about Banipal editor Etel Adnan by the Otolith Group showing at the Fabrica Gallery in Brighton
28/03/2012
The Druze of Belgrade by Rabee Jaber wins International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2012
[read more][read all news stories]