Since then, he has published several more collections and novels, including his bestselling Cairo Swan Song, which was shortlisted for the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction and translated to English by Adam Talib. Said won a number of prizes, including the Egyptian State Prize for Literature, the Sawiris, and the Soad El-Sabbah Prize for Arabic fiction. In the words of critic Ahmed Salah Eldein,”when in Cairo, you have to see the storytelling icon Mekkawi Said. More:
Meet Mekkawi Said: The Cairene Fairy King of Antiheroes
In Banipal: “My Father’s White Shawl,” a story translated by Leri Price
Advertisements
Share this:TwitterFacebookEmailPrintLinkedInRedditGoogleTumblrWhatsAppPinterestTelegramPocketSkypeLike this:Like Loading…‹ 4-Book Shortlist Announced for 2017 Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary TranslationCategories: Egypt Social media was full of grieving friends and fans:
Image from Hoopoe Fiction. He is a master of the antihero and has a pool of human secrets to reveal, all of which are Egyptian in flavor and human in essence.”
More reflections on Mekkawi Said to come. His most recent novel was To Be Loved by Jihan, which made the 2016-17 Sheikh Zayed Book Award longlist. His first book was a collection of short stories, Running after Light, published in 1981. Beloved and popular Egyptian novelist Mekkawi Said has died at 61. Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa echoed the sentiments of many when he wrote on Facebook: “Your leaving broke my heart, my friend.”
Said, who was both a novelist, publisher, and script-writer, was born in Cairo in July, 1956.