Salwa Bakr (; born 1949) is an

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

critic, novelist and author. Profile of the Egyptian Writer Salwa Bakr She is the author of seven volumes of short stories (including ''The Wiles of Men'', AUC Press, 1997), seven novels, and a play. Her work has been translated into nine languages and holds international recognition.

Biography

She was born in the Matariyya district in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

in 1949. Her father was a railway worker. She studied business at

Ain Shams University Ain Shams University () is a public university located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. History Ain Shams University was founded in July 1950, the third ...

, gaining a BA degree in 1972. She went on to earn another BA in

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

in 1976, before embarking on a career in journalism. She worked as a film and theatre critic for various Arabic newspapers and magazines. Bakr lived in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

for a few years with her husband before returning to Egypt in the mid-1980s. Bakr's father died early, leaving her mother a poor widow. Her work often deals with the lives of the impoverished and the marginalized. In his collection of short stories by Arab writers, the Serbian literary critic Srpko Leštarić wrote: "''Part of Salwa Bakr’s popularity lies in her being a counterforce to the conservative voices which challenge her work because they feel threatened by it."'' In particular, many of her stories deal with the problems of women of different social levels in Egyptian society, as exemplified in the stories told by women inmates of a prison in her ''novel The Golden Chariot''. In 1985, she published her first collection of short stories, ''Zinat at the President's Funeral'', which was an immediate success. She has published several collections of short stories and novels since. Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

of 1993 was called ''Wasf al-Bulbul'' (''The Description of the Nightingale'').

Translations

Several of Bakr's books and stories have been translated into various European languages, including English, German, Spanish, French or Polish. Her work has appeared in '' Banipal'' magazine, '' Words Without Borders'', and in a number of English-language anthologies. Single-volume English translations of her work include: * ''The Man from Bashmour'', American Univ in Cairo Press, 2007 - translated by Nancy Roberts * ''The Golden Chariot'', American Univ in Cairo Press, 2008 - translated by Dinah Manisty * ''The Wiles of Men and Other Stories, University of Texas Press, 1993'' - translated by Denys Johnson-Davies * ''Such a Beautiful Voice'', General Egyptian Book Organization, 1992 - translated by Hoda El Sadda

Awards and reception

''The Man from Bashmour'' was named as one of the 100 best Arabic novels by the Arabic Writers' Union. In 1993, she won the German Deutsche Welle Prize for Literature. Notwithstanding her relatively few novels or collections of short stories, she is highly regarded in Arab literary circles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakr, Salwa Novelists from Cairo 1949 births Egyptian women novelists Egyptian women short story writers Egyptian short story writers Egyptian literary critics Women literary critics Egyptian theatre critics Women theatre critics Egyptian film critics Egyptian women film critics Living people Ain Shams University alumni