Gamal Fouad

(Egypt, 1976) is a writer and, together with Claire Fons, forms the visual artist duo Felix & Mumford. They have exhibited in Berlin and Bologna, and their work was acquired for the collection of the Centraal Museum Utrecht. His first book Oneindig eiland (Infinite Island) was published in 2016, a hilarious novel about a man who gets invited to teach a writing course on a tropical island, even though he’s never been published himself. Fouad evokes the atmosphere on the island with masterly precision, and is deftly comic in telling the story of the teacher and participants. His second work De voorhuidenverzamelaar (The Foreskin Collector, 2018) was nominated for the Biesheuvel Award for best short stories. Fouad draws on his own youth in Alexandria as well as his experiences as an artist in Berlin for his stories. Fouad works highly associatively to create these symbolic narratives populated by archetypes.