Mekkawi Said (; 6 July 1956 – 2 December 2017) was an Egyptian novelist and short story writer.

Early life

He studied at

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

. He worked as a scriptwriter and publisher, operating the Al-Dar publishing house in Cairo.

Career

Said published his first book, a collection of short stories, in 1981. Since then, he has published several more

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

collections and two novels. His second novel ''Cairo Swan Song'' was a bestseller and was nominated for the inaugural

Arabic Booker Prize The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) (), also known as "the Arabic Booker", is regarded as the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing ...

in 2008. The novel has also been translated into English by Adam Talib and published by the

AUC Press The American University in Cairo Press (AUCP, AUC Press) is the leading English-language publisher in the Middle East. The largest translator of Arabic literature in the world, AUC Press has a reputation for carefully selecting and translating t ...

Awards and honors

Said was a recipient of the Egyptian State Prize for Literature.

References

1956 births 2017 deaths Writers from Cairo Egyptian novelists Egyptian male short story writers Egyptian short story writers {{Egypt-writer-stub