Bahaa Taher

Taher was born in Giza Governorate on 13 January 1935, with roots from Luxor in Upper Egypt.[1] He had a bachelor's degree in history, literature faculty in 1956, then a postgraduate diploma in media from the University of Cairo in 1973.[2] He was one of the Egyptian artists who contributed to the avant-garde literary magazine Galerie 68.[3] Upon being banned from writing in 1975,[4] he left Egypt and travelled widely in Africa and Asia seeking work as a translator.[4] During the 1980s and 1990s he lived in Switzerland, where he worked as a translator for the United Nations.[1] Afterwards he returned to Egypt, where he continued to reside.

Taher died on 27 October 2022, at the age of 87.[5]

East of the Palms (1985) (Arabic: شرق النخيل) His first novel was published in serialized form.[4]

Qalat Duha (1985) (Arabic: قالت ضحى)

Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery (1991) (Arabic: خالتي صفية والدير) His third novel, set in Upper Egypt, concerns a blood feud as a result of which a young Muslim man, fleeing vengeance, finds sanctuary in a Coptic monastery.

Love in Exile (1995) (Arabic: الحب في المنفى) His fourth novel deals with the massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.

The Point of Light (2001) (Arabic: نقطة النور)

Sunset Oasis (2007) (Arabic: واحة الغروب) His sixth novel is set in 19th century Egypt at the beginning of the British occupation of the country. The protagonist of the book is a nationalist Egyptian police officer who suffers from an existential crisis.[6][7]

• Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery has been translated into ten languages,[4] including the 1996 English translation by Barbara Romaine.
• Love in Exile was translated into English by Farouk Abdel Wahab, the pen name of Farouk Mustafa.[8] The translation was published by American University in Cairo Press in 2001 and later reissued by Arabia Books.[9]
• Qalat Doha (As Doha Said) was translated by Peter Daniel and published by the American University in Cairo Press in 2008.
• Sunset Oasis was translated into English by Humphrey Davies and was published in the UK in 2009 by Sceptre.[10]
• Sunset Oasis was translated into Norwegian by Unn Gyda Næss and is published by Vigmostad og Bjørke. Norwegian title: "Der solen går ned", ISBN 978-82-419-0583-4.[11]
• Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery was translated into Georgian by Zviad Tskhvetiani and is published by წიგნები ბათუმში. Georgian title: დეიდა საფია და მონასტერი, ISBN 978-9941-474-10-1.[12]

• 1998 State Award of Merit in Literature, which is Egypt's highest literary award.[1]
• 2000 Italian Giuseppe Acerbi Prize for Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery.[1]
• 2008 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for Sunset Oasis. He is the first winner of this prize.[7]

In his youth he was involved in left wing causes,[1] and was a supporter of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s development program for Egypt.[4] He felt that Anwar El Sadat’s ending of this policy has been a disaster for Egypt.[4] He called himself a pan-Arabist, but he said that he did not see much good in the Arab regimes of today.[4] He felt that Westerners want to see exoticism, gender discrimination, and problems between minorities in the works of Arab writers, but he refused to comply with these stereotypes.[4]

• Bahaa Taher: Excerpts, articles, interviews and videos on the website of the Prague Writers' Festival
• A short profile of the writer
• An interview with the writer in Egyptian Today in which he talks about his life and Sunset Oasis Archived 14 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine