Ala al-Aswani

Ala al-Aswani

ʿAla 'al-Aswani ( Arabic علاء الأسواني, DMG ʿAlāʾ al-Aswānī, transcription used by the publisher Alaa al-Aswani ; * May 26, 1957 in Cairo ) is an Egyptian writer and dentist.

Life

After studying dentistry in Cairo and Chicago, he worked as a dentist in Cairo. In 1985 Aswani went to the USA for three years for professional development .

In 2002 he published the novel ʿImarat Yaʿqubian, which quickly became a bestseller in the Arab world and was translated into English (2004), French (2006) and German (2007). In this novel, Aswani paints a picture of Egyptian society by portraying fictional residents of the Yaʿqubian building in Cairo. He touches on many taboos in Egyptian society such as corrupt politics, hypocritical sexual morality, everyday violence, homosexuality and class barriers.

In 2005 the novel ʿImarat Yaʿqubian with Adel Imam was filmed ( The Yacoubian Building ). The film was the most expensive Egyptian film production to date.

Al-Aswani is the spokesman for the Egyptian opposition movement Kifaya ( Egyptian-Arabic : “It's enough”) and he writes newspaper articles at home and abroad. In 2006 he wrote the novel (ar .: riwayah) Shikaju , in which he sharply criticized Husni Mubarak . In 2010 he launched a campaign on Facebook in support of the Egyptian presidential candidate Mohammed el-Baradei . In 2015, at the Romanfabrik in Frankfurt am Main, he again presented his stance on the Egyptian dictators of recent years.

Prizes and awards

• 2007 Bruno Kreisky Prize for the political book (main prize) for the book Der Jakubijan-Bau
• The Coburg Rückert Prize, awarded for the first time in 2008
• 2012: Johann Philipp Palm Prize for freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Works

Novels

• ʿImārat Yaʿqūbiyān . Cairo: Maktaba Madbūly, 2002.
  • The Jakubijân building . Roman from Egypt . From the Arabic by Hartmut Fähndrich . Lenos Verlag, Basel 2007. ISBN 978-3-85787-723-0 .
• Šīkaǧū. Cairo 2006
  • Chicago. Novel. Lenos Verlag, Basel 2008. ISBN 978-3-85787-388-1 .
• Nādī s-sayyārāt
  • The Cairo Automobile Club , Roman. From the Arabic by Hartmut Fähndrich. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2015. ISBN 978-3-10-000555-7 .

Stories and essays

• Nīrān ṣadīqa . Cairo 2004.
  • I wish I would be Egyptians. Stories. From the Arabic by Hartmut Fähndrich. Basel: Lenos Verlag, 2009. ISBN 978-3-85787-404-8 .
• Misr 'ala dikka al-ihtiyati . Cairo 2011.
  • In the land of Egypt: on the eve of the revolution . Essays. From the Arabic by Hartmut Fähndrich. S. Fischer Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 2011. ISBN 978-3-596-19409-4 .
• Who can cure the president? . Short story. Translated from the English by Michael Bischoff. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 18, 2012.

Web links

• Literature by and about Ala al-Aswani in the catalog of the German National Library
• Alaa al-Aswani , portrait and biography on the marabout page
• "The counter-revolution is already underway" , author Alaa al-Aswani in the standard interview on February 18, 2011
• Interview on the minaret dispute: “Communicating the tolerance of Islam” by Martin Gehlen in der Zeit , November 30, 2009
• Islam: “You are our role model” , interview with Volkhard Windfuhr and Bernhard Zand on Spiegel Online , July 20, 2009
• The Interview in The Guardian , May 31, 2009
• "Where Alaa Al Aswany Is Writing From" in The New York Times , April 27, 2008
• Alaa al-Aswani: "The revolution did not fail" , Der Standard from November 8, 2015
• Le dernier roi d'Egypte. Interview de Alaa El Aswany
• Interview with Alaa al-Aswani: The revolution is only just beginning , qantara.de December 19, 2011

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "This will be Egypt's rebirth". The Egyptian bestselling author Alaa al-Aswani , Deutschlandfunk , February 1, 2011
2. ↑ Magdi Abdelhadi: Egypt Facebook campaign for ElBaradei presidency. BBC News, February 16, 2010, accessed December 2, 2015 . 
3. ^ The revolution is irreversible in FAZ of November 21, 2015, page 46
4. ↑ Bruno Kreisky Prize for the Political Book Prize winners 1993-2018 , renner-institut.at, accessed December 1, 2019