Egyptian writers
Radwa Ashour: where to start
Radwa Ashour was a novelist, critic and professor whose historical fiction gave voice to people written out of history. Here is who she was, which of her books to read first, and where to go next.
Who is Radwa Ashour?
Ashour was born in Cairo in 1946 and died there in 2014. She taught English and comparative literature at Ain Shams University for decades.
She was married to the Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti. Her novels, written in Arabic, range from medieval Spain to modern Palestine and Egypt.
Where to start
1994 to 1995
Granada
A Muslim family in Granada after the city falls to the Catholic monarchs in 1492.
2010
The Woman from Tantoura
A Palestinian woman’s life, from the destruction of her village in 1948 to exile.
Novel
Specters
Two women, one of them a version of the author, trace a life through Egypt’s modern history.
Why read Radwa Ashour today
Ashour wrote history from below, through the lives of ordinary people caught in great events. Granada is a sweeping, moving novel and the best place to start.
Another Egyptian voice
Radwa Ashour wrote about the Middle East as lived by the people in it, not as a backdrop. A.M. Khalifa tries to do the same in thrillers: his Arab characters have their own loyalties, grief and reasons.
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 · Yusuf Idris · 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 Radwa Ashour book should I read first?
Granada, her best-known novel, about a family in Spain after 1492.
Did Radwa Ashour write in English?
She wrote her novels in Arabic, and taught English literature. Her major novels are available in English translation.
Who are other Egyptian women writers?
Ahdaf Soueif, Nawal El Saadawi, Latifa al-Zayyat and Mansoura Ez-Eldin.