Egyptian writers
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid: where to start
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid is the great novelist of Alexandria, whose trilogy follows the city through the twentieth century. Here is who he is, which of his books to read first, and where to go next.
Who is Ibrahim Abdel Meguid?
Abdel Meguid was born in Alexandria in 1946. His novels return again and again to his city, its mix of communities and the changes that swept it.
His Alexandria trilogy, beginning with No One Sleeps in Alexandria (1996), is his best-known work, and several of his novels are available in English translation.
Where to start
1996
No One Sleeps in Alexandria
A Muslim from the Delta and a Coptic Christian become friends in Alexandria during the Second World War.
2000
Birds of Amber
Alexandria from the 1956 Suez War on, as its cosmopolitan world slips away.
1991
The Other Place
A young Egyptian working in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, and the loneliness of the migrant.
Why read Ibrahim Abdel Meguid today
If you want to know what made Alexandria unique, and what it lost, start with No One Sleeps in Alexandria.
Another Egyptian voice
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid writes the cities and communities of Egypt with deep affection. A.M. Khalifa, who grew up across more than fifteen countries, writes Egypt into the wider world of the espionage thriller.
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 · Yusuf Idris · Latifa al-Zayyat · Bahaa Taher · Youssef Ziedan · Sonallah Ibrahim · 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 Ibrahim Abdel Meguid book should I read first?
No One Sleeps in Alexandria, the first novel of his Alexandria trilogy.
What is No One Sleeps in Alexandria about?
The friendship between a Muslim and a Coptic Christian in Alexandria during the Second World War.
Who are other Egyptian writers about Alexandria?
Naguib Mahfouz’s Miramar is set there too. See the full guide to Egyptian writers.