The Magnificent Conman of Cairo

• Rediscovered gem available in English for the first time. Originally published in Arabic in the 1940's the year that Camus',

The Stranger • was published. Satirical, at the vanguard, it was heralded at the time by Naguib Mahfouz, a contemporary, but then lost until republished in Arabic in 2014 when it found a cult following.

• Called "Egypt's Literary Gem" by Sherif Abdel Samad in Mada Masr • https://madamasr. com/en/2016/01/31/feature/culture/egypts-literary-gems-malim-the-great/

• Chosen by Nael Eloukhy in as the best novel of the year when it was republished in Arabic saying, "an extremely clever novel and can tell us very easily something very new about our lives in Egypt now, particularly after the revolution." https://arablit. org/2015/12/31/authors-favorites-of-2015-the-year-in-arabic-literature-and-beyond/

• Interesting publishing story: after the original publication and its being snubbed for literary prizes of the day, the author wrote a long, satiric response to the literati and never published again.

© 2020 Hoopoe (Rafbók): 9781617979798

Þýðandi: Waleed Almusharaf

Útgáfudagur

Rafbók: 7 april 2020