Alaa Al - Aswany

Alaa Al Aswany was born in 1957 in Egypt. He studied dentistry at Cairo University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. His first dental practice was located in the legendary Yacoubian Building, which became the setting for his eponymous book first published in 2002. This book has been translated into more than 30 languages and is the most widely read Arabic-language book of the 21st century, with sales exceeding 1,000,000 copies. It was successfully adapted into a film by Marwan Hamed, becoming one of the most expensive productions in Egyptian cinema. His next novel, "Chicago" (2006), also received positive reviews from critics and readers alike and was translated into many languages. This was followed by "The Automobile Club" and the short story collection "I Would Like to Be Egyptian."