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Naguib Mahfouz Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature

Date
13 October 1988 CE1409 AH38 years ago
Place
Cairo, Egypt
People
Naguib Mahfouz

The Swedish Academy announced on 13 October 1988 that Naguib Mahfouz had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the first writer in the Arabic language to receive the prize. Mahfouz wrote novels about life in Cairo, including the Cairo Trilogy. His novel Children of Gebelawi was banned from publication in Egypt for a time.

Why it matters

The prize brought wider international attention to modern Arabic fiction.

nobelliteratureegyptarabic novel