About the Author

Bahaa Taher was born in 1935 in Luxor and published his first short story in 1964. After living in Switzerland in the 1980s and '90s, he returned to Egypt and received much literary acclaim. He received the State Award of Merit in Literature, Egypt's highest honour for writing. In 2008 Bahaa Taher became the first writer to be awarded the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (the 'Arabic booker') for his novel Sunset Oasis.