Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. Mahfouz is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers in Arabic 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 take place in Egypt, and always mentions the lane, which equals the world. His most famous works include The Cairo Trilogy and Children of Gebelawi. Many of Mahfouz's works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films; no Arab writer exceeds Mahfouz in number of works that have been adapted for cinema and television. While Mahfouz's literature is classified as realist literature, existential themes appear in it.

11 December 1911

Born on the same birth date (11 December 1911): Qian Xuesen • Val Guest

Born on the same birth day (11 December): Aquilino Pimentel Jr. • Carl Friedrich Zelter • Carlos Gardel • Chus Lampreave • Clinton Adams • Colleen Hoover • Elena Garro • Fabrizio Ravanelli • Francesco Algarotti • J. P. Parisé • Lynda Day George • Maila Nurmi • Mary Ivy Burks • Max Baucus • Pierre Pilote • Willie McGinest

Born in the same month (December 1911): Anna Russell • Chet Huntley • Dal Stivens • James Gregory (actor) • Jeanette Nolan • Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz • Josh Gibson • Jules Dassin • Kenneth Patchen • Klaus Fuchs • Lee J. Cobb • Louise Bourgeois • Nicholas P. Dallis • Niels Kaj Jerne • Nino Rota • Qian Xuesen • Trygve Haavelmo • Wil van Beveren • Władysław Szpilman