Alaa Al Aswany

{{Infobox writer

| image =

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| alt =

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1957|05|26|df=y}}

| birth_place = Cairo, Egypt

| occupation = Writer, novelist, and dentist

| language = Egyptian Arabic, Classical Arabic, French, Spanish, English

| alma_mater = Cairo University
University of Illinois at Chicago

| notableworks = The Isam Abd el-Ati Papers (1990)
The Yacoubian Building
Chicago (2007)
Friendly Fire (2004, 2008)
The Automobile Club of Egypt (2013)
The Republic of False Truths (2021)

| spouse = Eman Taymoor (1993–present)[http://www.planetbookgroupie.com/2011/09/20/the-yacoubian-building-2/ Planet Book Groupie Interview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212143420/http://www.planetbookgroupie.com/2011/09/20/the-yacoubian-building-2/ |date=12 February 2015 }}

| awards = Bashraheel Award for Arabic Novel (2005)
The International Cavafi Award (2005)
Bruno-Kriesky Award (2008)
Tiziano Terzani Literary Award
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters, France, 2016)
Grand Prix of the Novel, Toulon France Festival (2006)
Grinzani Cavour Award, Turin, Italy (2007)
Mediterranean Culture Award, Naples, Italy (2007)
Friedrich Rukert Literary Award (2008)
Bruno Kreisky literary Award, Austria (2008)
Achievement Award from the University of Illinois (2010)
Majidi bin Zahir Arab Literature Award, Montreal, Canada (2011)
Tiziano Terzani Award, Odeon, Italy (2011)
Johann Philipp Palm Award, Germany (2012)

| signature =

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| website = {{URL|AlaaAlAswany.com}}

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| citizenship = Egyptian

| years_active = 1990–

}}

Alaa Al Aswany ({{langx|ar|علاء الأسواني}}, {{IPA|arz|ʕæˈlæːʔ elɑsˈwɑːni|IPA}}; born 26 May 1957) is an Egyptian writer, novelist, dentist and a founding member of the political movement Kefaya. He is based in Paris and New York where lives and teaches creative writing.{{Cite web |title=Courses {{!}} Alaa Al Aswany's Creative Writing Workshop |url=https://www.alaaalaswany.com/courses |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=alaswanyworkshop |language=en}}

Early life and career

File:Alaa Al-Aswany.jpg

Al Aswany was born on 26 May 1957 in Cairo. His mother, Zainab, came from an aristocratic family; her uncle was a Pasha and Minister of Education before the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.{{cite news

| last = Khan

| first = Riz

| title = One on One

| publisher = Al Jazeera

| date = 13 February 2009

| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Mo4aHlTCc

}} His father, Abbas Al Aswany, was from AswanRachel Cooke, [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/may/31/alaa-al-aswany-interview "The Interview"], The Observer, 31 May 2009. Retrieved 24 May 2011. (in Lower Nubia) and was a lawyer and writer who "is remembered as being a captivating and charismatic speaker with a broad following and loyalty within a cross-section of the Egyptian revolutionary intelligentsia". Abbas Al Aswany wrote a regular back-page essay in the Egyptian weekly magazine Rose al-Yūsuf entitled Aswaaniyat.[http://alaaalaswany.maktoobblog.com/1618031/book-reviewschicago-a-novel-by-alaa-al-aswany/ Chicago Novel Book Review] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091014025137/http://alaaalaswany.maktoobblog.com/1618031/book-reviewschicago-a-novel-by-alaa-al-aswany/ |date=14 October 2009 }} In 1972, he was "the recipient of the state award for literature". He died when Al Aswany was 19 years old.

Al Aswany attended Le Lycée Français in Cairo and received a bachelor's degree in dental and oral medicine at Cairo University in 1980. He went on to pursue a master's degree in dentistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1985.{{cite news

| last = McCarthy

| first = Rory

| title = Dentist by day, top novelist by night

| newspaper = The Guardian

| date = 27 February 2006

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/feb/27/fiction.egypt

| location = London

}} He speaks Arabic, English, French, and Spanish.{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20110314102958/http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/new/blogs/bios/aswany/bio-aswany.html Bio of Alaa Al Aswani"]}}, World Affairs Journal, accessed 24 May 2011. He studied Spanish literature in Madrid.

Al Aswany married his first wife in his early twenties. She was a dentist and they had a son, Seif. They later divorced. When he was 37, he married Eman Taymoor and they had two daughters, May and Nada.

He wrote a weekly literary critique entitled "Parenthetically" in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Sha'ab, and then became responsible for the culture page in the same newspaper. He wrote a monthly political article in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Nasseri and a weekly article in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Dustour. He also wrote a weekly article in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Shorouk. Following the revolution, he wrote a weekly article in Al-Masry Al-Youm on Tuesdays. His articles have been published in leading international newspapers such as The New York Times,{{cite web

| url = https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=202408003142283

| title = Alaa Al-Aswany's C.V.

| via = Facebook

| access-date = 12 March 2013

}} Le Monde, El País,{{cite news

| url = http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2011/10/28/actualidad/1319756658_014105.html

| title = Egipto ante el fascismo | Internacional

| newspaper = El País

| date = 28 October 2011

| access-date = 12 March 2013

}} The Guardian,{{cite news

| url = https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alaa-al-aswany

| location = London

| newspaper = The Guardian| title = Alaa Al Aswany

| date = 9 July 2009

}} The Independent, and others.

His second novel, The Yacoubian Building, an ironic depiction of modern Egyptian society, has been widely read in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. His literary works have been translated into 37 languages,{{cite news

| author = t

| url = https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alaa-Al-Aswany/189605697748608?sk=info

| title = Alaa Al Aswany

| via = Facebook

| access-date = 12 March 2013

}} including Armenian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Castilian, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. In 2006, The Yacoubian Building was adapted into "the biggest budget movie ever produced in Egypt".Karen Kostyal, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080320004041/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0609/voices.html "Alaa Al Aswany: Voice of Reason"], National Geographic, September 2006, accessed 17 May 2011. The movie was screened at international film festivals and was a great success in Egypt. However, Al Aswany was banned from attending the premiere. The Yacoubian Building is one of a few movies that addresses social taboos and widespread governmental corruption in Egypt, such as the rigging of elections. In 2007, The Yacoubian Building was made into a television series of the same name. In fact, many intellectuals believe that this work played a crucial role in triggering revolutionary sentiments among the Egyptian people. Al Aswany claims that during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, many protesters approached him and said "We are here because of what you wrote".Matthew Kaminski, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703385404576258603352822070 "The Face of Egypt’s Uprising"], The Wall Street Journal, 13 April 2011, accessed 24 May 2011.

Chicago, a novel set in the city in which the author was educated, was published in January 2007 and his Automobile Club of Egypt was published in English in 2016.

Al Aswany's name has been included in the list of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World,{{cite web

| author = The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre

| url = http://www.rissc.jo/docs/0A-FullVersion-LowRes.pdf

| title = The 500 Most Influential Muslims

| publisher = The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre

| access-date = 3 January 2011

}} issued by the [http://www.rissc.jo/ Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center] in Amman, Jordan.

He was number one in The Foreign Policy Top 100 Global Thinkers list 2011.{{cite news

|url = https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers

|title = The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers

|newspaper = Foreign Policy

|date = 28 November 2011

|access-date = 12 March 2013

|archive-date = 4 May 2012

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120504074817/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers

|url-status = dead

}}

Al Aswany participated in the Blue Metropolis literary festival in Montreal, June 2008 and April 2010, and was featured in interviews with the CBC programme Writers and Company.

In January 2015, the Gingko Library published Democracy is the Answer: Egypt's Years of Revolution, a collection of newspaper columns written by Al Aswany for Al-Masry Al-Youm between 2011 and 2014.{{cite web

| url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04th9f4

| title = BBC Radio 4 – Start the Week, Arabian Nights

| publisher = BBC

| access-date = 21 November 2015

}}{{cite web

| url = https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/media-review/book-review/16544-democracy-is-the-answer-egypts-years-of-revolution

| title = Democracy is the Answer: Egypt's Years of Revolution

| work = Middle East Monitor – The Latest from the Middle East

| access-date = 21 November 2015

}}

In 2018, Al Aswany published a novel titled Jumhuriyat ka'an («جمهورية كأن», literally: The Republic of As-If; translated into English as The Republic of False Truths{{cite web |title=The Republic of False Truths |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/215004/the-republic-of-false-truths-by-alaa-al-aswany/ |publisher=Penguin Random House}}), which takes place in the backdrop of the 2011 Revolution.{{cite journal |last1=Beskova |first1=Katarina |title=A Bleak Portrait of the Revolution: Alaa al-Aswany's Jumhuriya ka'an |journal=Asian and African Studies |date=2020 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=166–191 |url=https://www.academia.edu/44612584 |access-date=7 December 2020}}

His latest novel, Ashgar Tamshi fi-alaskandaryia (Arabic: الأشجار تمشي في الأسكندرية, The Trees Walk in Alexandria) was published in 2024.{{Cite web |title=Literary Résumé {{!}} NYC {{!}} Alaa Al Aswany's Creative Writing Workshop |url=https://www.alaaalaswany.com/literary-resume |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=alaswanyworkshop |language=en}}

Political Views

Al Aswany was in Tahrir Square each of the 18 days before Mubarak fell from power. He was one of the few prominent people to interview the Mubarak-appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik on an Egyptian channel.{{YouTube|xePLkYq7EuY|Baladna Bil Masry Talk Show (March 2011)}} Shafik lost his temper under persistent grilling by the novelist and it was the first time for Egyptians to witness a ruler dressed down so severely by a civilian in public. Consequently, it is said that Shafik was fired by the SCAF.

File:Alaa Al Aswany.jpg

Al Aswany supported the 2013 Coup d'état against the Muslim brotherhood led government, stating that they were neither democratic. He said: "They are a group of terrorists and fascists."{{Cite news |last=Kingsley |first=Patrick |date=2013-10-29 |title=Alaa al-Aswany on why he had to support Egypt's military crackdown |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/29/alaa-al-aswany-egypt-muslim-brotherhood |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} He compared then-elected president Morsi to deposed president Mubarak in terms of dictatorship and repression of freedoms.{{Cite web |title=Egyptian Writer 'Alaa Al-Aswany: Mursi's Rule Is No Different From Mubarak's; Keep Muslim Brotherhood From Taking Over Egypt |url=https://www.memri.org/reports/egyptian-writer-alaa-al-aswany-mursis-rule-no-different-mubaraks-keep-muslim-brotherhood |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=MEMRI |language=en}}

In an interview with Robert Fisk in 2014, Al Aswany said "I think we must give the Sisi government a chance. People are terrorised", while acknowledging Sisi is not a true democrat.{{Cite web |date=2014-06-02 |title=Hope remains in Egypt despite view that Sisi is not a true democrat |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/robert-fisk-alaa-alaswany-egypt-s-greatest-living-novelist-knows-sisi-is-not-a-true-democrat-but-is-still-hopeful-that-he-can-do-good-9467840.html |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

Since 2019, Al Aswany has been living in Paris and New York in self exile after he was sued by Egyptian government for "insulting the state".{{Cite news |date=2019-03-20 |title=Alaa Al Aswany: Egypt 'sues novelist for insulting state' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47637826 |access-date=2025-01-05 |language=en-GB}}

In 2022, after exile and in the wake of publishing his new novel, he stated in a CBC radio interview "I'm quite sure the revolution will win and I believe the change has already happened," said Al Aswany. "The future is on our side."{{Cite web |title='The future is on our side': Exiled Egyptian author remains defiant |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-future-is-on-our-side-exiled-egyptian-author-remains-defiant-1.6352474}}

Al Aswany remains critical of the Egyptian government through his online lectures on his YouTube channel. He often states that "Democracy is the solution". He is also critical of other Middle Eastern regimes. Following the Gaza war, Al Aswany was highly critical of the Government of Israel,{{Cite web |last=Perry |first=Dan |title=The Blogs: My love for an Israel-hating Egyptian writer |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/my-love-for-an-israel-hating-egyptian-writer/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=blogs.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US}} calling for Liberation of Palestine, and the liberation of all the Middle East from tyranny and occupation.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kad9rpz6Rnw |title=عن تحرير فلسطين وتحرير مصر {{!}} ندوة د. علاء الأسواني |date=2024-03-05 |last=Alaa Al Aswany |access-date=2025-01-05 |via=YouTube}}

Al Aswany often draws comparisons between the periods of the Kingdom of Egypt and the Republic of Egypt, criticizing the 1952 Free Officers movement as the source of most of the social and economic troubles in contemporary Egypt.

Bibliography (in Arabic)

= Novels =

1990: Awrāq ʾIṣṣām ʾAbd il-ʾĀṭī ({{langx|ar|أوراق عصام عبد العاطى}}, The Papers of Essam Abdel Aaty)
2002: ʿImārat Yaʾqūbiyān ({{langx|ar|عمارة يعقوبيان}}, The Yacoubian Building)
2007: Chicago ({{langx|ar|شيكاجو}})
2013: Nādī il-sayyārāt ({{langx|ar|نادي السيارات}}, The Automobile Club of Egypt)
2018: Jumhuriyat ka'an ({{langx|ar|جمهورية كأن}}, The Republic of False Truths)
2024: Ashgar Tamshi fi-alaskandaryia (Arabic: الأشجار تمشي في الأسكندرية, The Trees Walk in Alexandria)

= Short stories =

1990: Alladhī iqtarab wa raʾa ({{langx|ar|الذى اقترب و رأى}}, "Who Approached and Saw")
1998: Jamʾiyat muntaẓirī il-zaʿīm ({{langx|ar|جمعية منتظرى الزعيم}}, "Waiting for a Leader")
2004: Nīrān sadīqa ({{langx|ar|نيران صديقة}}, "Friendly Fire")

= Articles =

2010: Li mā dhā lā yathūr il-Miṣriyūn ({{langx|ar|لماذا لا يثور المصريون؟}}, "Why Don't Egyptians Revolt?”)
2011: Hal nastaḥiqq il-dimuqrāṭiyya? ({{langx|ar|هل نستحق الديمقراطية؟}}, "Do We Deserve Democracy?”)
2011: Miṣr ʿalā dikkat il-iḥṭiyāṭy ({{langx|ar|مصر على دكة الإحتياطى}}, "Egypt on the Reserve Bench")
2012: Hal akhṭaʾat il-thawra il-Miṣriyya? ({{langx|ar|هل أخطأت الثورة المصرية؟}}, "Did the Egyptian Revolution Go Wrong?”)
2014: Kayf naṣnaʾ il-diktātūr? ({{langx|ar|كيف نصنع الديكتاتور؟}}, "How do we make the Dictator?”)
Since November 2013, he has been writing a monthly opinion column for the International Herald Tribune/New York Times.

= English translations =

{{cite book

| author = Alaa Al Aswany

| title = Democracy is the Answer: Egypt's Years of Revolution

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ndHqoQEACAAJ

| date = 15 February 2015

| publisher = University of Chicago Press

| isbn = 978-1-909942-71-4

}}

{{cite book

| author = Alaa Al Aswany

| title = On the State of Egypt: What Made the Revolution Inevitable

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iaREHgJzn70C

| date = 12 April 2011

| publisher = Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

| isbn = 978-0-307-94699-7

}}

{{cite book

| author = Alaa Al Aswany

| title = Friendly Fire

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oSc-mgEACAAJ

| year = 2009

| translator = Humphrey Davies.

| publisher = Fourth Estate

| isbn = 978-0-00-730600-8

}}

{{cite book

| author = Alaa Al Aswany

| title = Chicago

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8pdyxOYRj2QC

| date = 6 October 2009

| translator = Farouk Abdel Wahab.

| publisher = HarperCollins

| isbn = 978-0-06-198188-3

}}

Alaa Al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, HarperPerennial, 2007
Alaa Al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, Fourth Estate, 2007
Alaa Al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, Humphrey Davies (translator), HarperPerennial, 2006
Alaa Al Aswany, The Yacoubian Building, Humphrey Davies (translator), The American University in Cairo Press, 2004
Alaa Al Aswany, The Republic of False Truths, S. R. Fellowes (translator), 2021. {{ISBN|9780307957221}}

Awards

2005: {{flag|Yemen}} Bashraheel Award for Arabic Novel, ({{langx|ar|جائزة باشراحيل للرواية العربية}})
2005: {{flag|Greece}} The International Cavafi Award
2006: {{flag|France}} The Great Novel Award from Toulon Festival
2007: {{flag|Italy}} The Culture Award from The Foundation of The Mediterranean
2007: {{flag|Italy}} Grinzane Cavour Award
2008: {{flag|Austria}} Bruno-Kriesky Award
2008: {{flag|Germany}} Friedrich Award
2010: {{flag|USA}} University of Illinois Achievement Award
2011: {{flag|Canada}} Blue Metropolis Award for Arabic Literature
2012: {{flag|Italy}} Tiziano Terzani Literary Award
2012: {{flag|Italy}} Mediterranean Cultural Award{{Cite news|url=http://www.alwafd.org/%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%81%D9%86/48-%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9/267999-%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%B3%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AD-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%89-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%AD%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9/|title=الأسوانى يفوز بجائزة "البحر المتوسط" للثقافة|last=الوفد|work=الوفد|access-date=2018-03-14}}
2012: {{flag|Germany}} Johann Philipp Palm Award{{Cite news|url=http://www1.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=860459&SecID=94/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209205100/http://www1.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=860459&SecID=94/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-02-09|title="الأسوانى" يفوز بجائزة حرية التعبير الألمانية – اليوم السابع|date=2012-11-28|work=اليوم السابع|access-date=2018-03-14|language=ar-Ar}}
2016: ''{{flag|France}} Ordre des Arts et des Lettres