Naguib Mahfouz was born in 1911 in the crowded Cairo district of Gamaliya. He wrote nearly 40 novel-length works, plus hundreds of short stories and numerous cinema plots and scenarios. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. He died in Cairo on August 30, 2006 at the age of 94.
William M. Hutchins, a professor in the Philosophy and Religion Department at Appalachian State University, has translated the works of many Arab writers, including Tawfiq al-Hakim, Fadhil al-Azzawi, Ibrahim al-Koni, and Mohammed Khudayyir.
Lorne Kenny was chair of the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto. With his wife Olive E. Kenny he translated several works of Arabic fiction, including Yusuf al-Qaid’s War in the Land of Egypt and Hanna Mina’s Fragments of Memory.
Olive E. Kenny studied Arabic in Cairo and taught English there for many years. Her translations include Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace Walk (with William M. Hutchins) and Wedding Song, and Yusuf al-Qaid’s War in the Land of Egypt (with her husband Lorne Kenny).
