Alaa al Aswani
(Cairo, 1957) is a writer, dentist, and one of the founders of the opposition movement Kefaya that helped launch the Egyptian Revolution. He had his international breakthrough with The Yacoubian Building, a novel about the lives of the inhabitants of an apartment block in Cairo. Although it paints a disconcerting picture of Egyptian society, it remained a bestseller in that country for years. It was also made into a film and a TV series. Al Aswani's writing style is quick and witty, with short chapters full of action, atmosphere and drama. His 2004 novella Friendly Fire, about a young man highly critical of corruption in Egypt, was banned. His newspaper columns about political developments in Egypt have been collected in On the state of Egypt. The Dutch translation of his latest novel will be presented at the 2015 Winternachten festival: De automobielclub (The Automobile Club of Egypt), about Cairo in the late 1940s, when Egypt was a British protectorate.
Past events
Stars of Arabic Literature
Finally, the poems of Adonis, the most important contemporary Arabic poet, have been translated into Dutch. Tonight Adonis receives the first copy of his poetry collection Wat blijft (What Remains) from Rotterdam’s Mayor Aboutaleb. After that, Egypt’s Alaa al Aswany also presents new work in translation: The Automobile Club of Cairo.
Writing in Times of Turmoil
Can a writer continue to seek refuge in imagination when all hell breaks loose? Kurkov wrote novels before revolution broke out in Kiev, of which he relates in Ukraine Diaries. Al Aswani described the Arab Spring in About Egypt: The provocative considerations of a novelist.
Two Houses
Margot Dijkgraaf talks to Egyptian Alaa Al Aswany, presents the Dutch translation of the much talked-about novel Omaret Yacoubian. Michiel van Kempen wrote Vluchtwegen (Ways of Fleeing), set in an apartment building in the Bijlmermeer. English spoken.
