Sahar Tawfiq ( ar, سحر توفيق; born 1951) is an Egyptian novelist, short story writer and translator. Born and raised in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

, she studied Arabic language and literature at

Al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...

. She has worked as a teacher and educationist in both Egypt and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

. Her first published work was a short story in an Egyptian weekly in 1971. Her first collection of stories ''An Tanhadera ash-Shams'' (''That the Sun May Descend''; 1984) was well received. After a long hiatus, her next book, a novel called ''Ta'am ez-Zaitoun'' (''The Taste of Olives''), came out in 2000. Since then she has published more works of fiction. She has also translated works from English into Arabic, including books by

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, ...

Ishmael Beah Ishmael Beah (born 23 November 1980)UNICEF''Youth leadership profiles'' unicef.org; retrieved 15 February 2007. is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his acclaimed memoir, '' A Long Way Gone''. His novel ''Ra ...

, Doris Lessing and

Maxine Hong Kingston Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong;Huntley, E. D. (2001). ''Maxine Hong Kingston: A Critical Companion'', p. 1. October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, wher ...

. Sahar Tawfiq's work has appeared in ''

Banipal ''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three ti ...

'' magazine. ''Points of the Compass'', a volume of her short stories translated by

Marilyn Booth Marilyn Louise Booth (born 24 February 1955) is an author, scholar and translator of Arabic literature. Since 2015, she has been the Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World at the University of Oxford and ...

, won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award in 1994. She was married to the late sculptor

Adel al-Sharqawi Adel may refer to: Places United States * Adel, Georgia * Adel, Indiana * Adel, Iowa * Adel Township, Dallas County, Iowa * Adel, Oklahoma * Adel, Oregon * Adel Mountains Volcanic Field, West-central Montana Elsewhere * Adelaide, Australia ...

. She lives in

Maadi Maadi ( ar, المعادي / transliterated: ) is a leafy suburban district south of Cairo, Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile about upriver from downtown Cairo. The Nile at Maadi is parallelled by the Corniche, a waterfront promenade ...

, Cairo.

References

1951 births Writers from Cairo Egyptian novelists Egyptian women short story writers Egyptian short story writers Living people Al-Azhar University alumni {{Egypt-writer-stub