Renowned Egyptian writer Dr. Reem Bassiouney was awarded the 2019/2020 Naguib Mahfouz Award for the best Egyptian novel of the year for her bestselling novel ‘Sons Of the People: The Mamluk Trilogy.’ Egypt’s Supreme Council of Culture, under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, announced the names of the winners of the Naguib Mahfouz award for the best Egyptian novel and best Arabic novel last Thursday, which also saw Mauritanian writer Mohamed Fadel Ibrahim win the latter for his novel ‘The Book of Apostasy.’ Bassiouney is the first woman writer to receive the award, which stopped for nearly 20 years before its revival in 2017. There is also another prize in Egypt bearing the name of the famous novelist [Naguib Mahfouz] and is presented by the American University of Cairo publishing house. Her bestseller novel ‘Sons Of the People: The Mamluk Trilogy’ aims to approach history with a deeper outlook on the human experiences of the Mamluks in Egypt, who originally came as owned slaves and then later ruled Egypt for around 267 years. Out of curiosity to learn more about the Sultan Hassan mosque in Egypt, Bassiouney spent…
Egyptian Writer Reem Bassiouney Becomes First Woman to Win Prestigious Naguib Mahfouz Award
May 11, 2020
