Alaa el aswany biography of martin

BORN: 1957, Egypt

NATIONALITY: Egyptian

GENRE: Fiction

MAJOR WORKS:
The Yacoubian Building (2002)
Chicago (2007)

Overview

Alaa al Aswany is a contemporary Egyptian writer whose best-selling books use social realism to take an unflinching look at the problems of modern Egypt.

Popular Egyptian Writer Says Revolution Was 'Inevitable' - NPR

Al Aswany also achieved recognition as one of the founders of Kefaya, a political coalition aimed at opposing the presidency of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Works in Biographical and Historical Context

A Dentist Turned Writer Al Aswany was born May 26, 1957, in Cairo, Egypt, during the sixteen-year rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's second president.

He was trained as a dentist in both Egypt and Chicago. Al Aswany opened a dental clinic in the Yacoubian Building, the setting for his best-selling novel, before turning to writing. His novel The Yacoubian Building uses the building itself, as well as the intertwining stories of its fictional tenants, to depict the politic Profile - Alaa Al Aswany - Egypt - The New York Times SIH