Quarter

Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo in 1911 and began writing when he was seventeen. A student of philosophy and an avid reader, his works range from reimaginings of ancient myths to subtle commentaries on contemporary Egyptian politics and culture. Over a career that lasted more than five decades, he wrote 34 novels, 13 short story anthologies, numerous plays and 30 screenplays. Of his many works, most famous is The Cairo Trilogy, consisting of Palace Walk (1956), Palace of Desire (1957), and Sugar Street (1957). Other notable works include The Children of Gebelawi, The Thief and the Dogs, Autumn Quail, Small Talk on the Nile and Miramar. Half of his novels have also been made into films. Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, the first writer in Arabic to do so. He died in August 2006.

`A master of both detailed realism and fabulous storytelling'