Alaa Al Aswany

ALAA AL ASWANY was born in Egypt in 1957. He is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Yacoubian Building, the best-selling novel in the Arab world for more than five years, with more than a million copies sold around the world. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages and published in more than one hundred countries. He has received several international awards, including the Grinzane Cavour Prize, and in 2016 he was appointed a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. Originally trained as a dentist, he ran his own dental practice in Cairo.