Naguib Mahfouz
Novelist
The author of The Cairo Trilogy, he was the winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature and is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature. His numerous literary works include The Honeymoon, The Harafish, and Arabian Nights and Days.
He earned a degree in philosophy from the University of Cairo in 1934. Many of his first literary works were set in Cairo.
He authored over 350 short stories and 30 novels in his 70 years as a writer.
He had two daughters: Fatima and Umm Kalthum. He married Atiya Mahfouz when he was in his early forties.
He became a Nobel laureate in Literature two years before Octavio Paz received the same honor.