Naguib Mahfouz
Egyptian writer (1911–2006)
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described him as a writer "who, through works rich in nuance – now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous – has formed an Egyptian narrative art that applies to all mankind".
Mahfouz is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers in Egyptian literature, along with Taha Hussein, to explore themes of existentialism. He is the only Egyptian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He published 35 novels, over 350 short stories, 26 screenplays, hundreds of op-ed columns for Egyptian newspapers, and seven plays over a 70-year career, from the 1930s until 2004. All of his novels are set in Egypt, and always mention the concept of "the lane" as a microcosm of the world. His most famous works include The Cairo Trilogy and Children of Gebelawi. Many of Mahfouz's works have been adapted into Egyptian and international films, making him one of the most widely adapted Egyptian authors. While Mahfouz's literature is classified as realist literature, existential themes appear in it.
Early life and education
Mahfouz was born in a lower middle-class Muslim Egyptian family in Old Cairo in 1911.
“Naguib Mahfouz” enters the record as egyptian writer (1911–2006). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Naguib, Mahfouz and Egyptian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7176. VIAF identifies the subject as 89803944. The Library of Congress control number is n82091918. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1911, 2006, 1988 and 2004.
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This entry incorporates text from “Naguib Mahfouz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.