(December 11, 1911-August 30, 2006)
Wrote ‘Whisper of Madness (1938),' ‘Sugar Street (1957),' ‘Children of Gebelawi (1959), ‘Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth (1985)' and ‘Fountain and Tomb (1988)'
Received Nobel Prize for Literature (1988)
Survived assassination attempt in 1994

He was a civil servant for 35 years.
He claimed most Egyptians prefer watching filmed versions of his work to actually reading him.
His experimental fiction was met with mixed reviews.
A Cairo tourist trap, 'Naguib Mahfouz Café,' was named in his honor.

He is probably the Arab writer with the most name recognition in the West.
His detailed, socially conscious prose has been compared to that of Charles Dickens.
When Edward Said tried to find him a publisher in New York, he was told Arabic was a 'problematic' language.
Jacqueline Onassis championed him and got him a contract at Double Day.
'Children of Gebelawi' was condemned as blasphemous by fanatics and blamed for encouraging Salman Rushdie to write 'The Satanic Verses.'
In 1994 he was stabbed repeatedly in the neck by Islamic fundamentalists.
Nerve damage from the attack ended his writing career.

Credit: Georgina

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• Georgina/Devil Doll's Profiles [Series 1]
• I am Egyptian
• I Died in 2006 (Ranked: 94)
• I Died in the City I Was Born In
• I Survived an Assassination Attempt
• I was Stabbed
• Look at Me, I'm a Man in Shades
• Nobel Prize for Literature
• Profiles 17751-18000 (Ranked: 17817)
• World Literature Today Top 40 [2001] (Ranked: 1956)