Egyptian writers
Yusuf Idris: where to start
Yusuf Idris is the master of the Egyptian short story, a doctor who wrote about the poor and the powerless with startling directness. Here is who he was, which of his books to read first, and where to go next.
Who is Yusuf Idris?
Idris was born in 1927 in a village in the Sharqia province of the Nile Delta and died in 1991. He trained as a doctor at Cairo University and worked in medicine and public health while he began to write.
His first collection of stories, The Cheapest Nights, appeared in 1954 and changed Arabic short fiction: plain-spoken, often in the rhythms of everyday Egyptian speech, and full of the lives of villagers, workers and the urban poor. He also wrote novels and plays.
Where to start
1954
The Cheapest Nights
His first and most famous collection: short, sharp stories of village and city life.
1959
The Sinners
A dead newborn is found on a Delta estate, and suspicion falls on the seasonal laborers. Made into a celebrated film.
Stories
Rings of Burnished Brass
Longer stories of desire, power and guilt, available in English translation.
Why read Yusuf Idris today
Idris writes with a doctor’s eye: unsentimental, precise and compassionate. His stories are short enough to read on a train and stay with you for years.
Another Egyptian voice
Yusuf Idris wrote about ordinary Egyptians caught in systems bigger than themselves. A.M. Khalifa’s Terminal Rage, a very different book, follows its characters through a conspiracy that runs from a Manhattan tower to an Egyptian prison.
A.M. Khalifa grew up in a diplomatic corps family across more than fifteen countries and is the only Egyptian writing commercial espionage fiction in English. His debut, Terminal Rage, has sold more than 500,000 copies and received a starred review from Booklist.
More Egyptian writers
Naguib Mahfouz · Alaa Al Aswany · Ahdaf Soueif · Nawal El Saadawi · Omar El Akkad · Ahmed Mourad · Ahmed Khaled Towfik · Tawfiq al-Hakim · Taha Hussein · Radwa Ashour · Latifa al-Zayyat · Bahaa Taher · Youssef Ziedan · Sonallah Ibrahim · Ibrahim Abdel Meguid · Ezzedine Choukri Fishere · Khaled Al Khamissi · Mansoura Ez-Eldin · Waguih Ghali · Yasmine El Rashidi · Noor Naga · Omar Robert Hamilton · Nabil Farouk · A.M. Khalifa
Questions
Which Yusuf Idris book should I read first?
The Cheapest Nights, his first collection of short stories, available in English.
Why is Yusuf Idris important?
He is widely regarded as the master of the modern Arabic short story, and brought everyday Egyptian life and speech into literature.
Was Yusuf Idris a doctor?
Yes. He trained as a physician at Cairo University.
Who are other classic Egyptian writers?
Naguib Mahfouz, Taha Hussein and Tawfiq al-Hakim. See the full guide to Egyptian writers.