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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 July 1999 Issue No. 439 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 July 1999 Issue No. 439
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Focus Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters From afar
Although I never knew him personally, Abbas El-Aqqad had a profound impact on my life. A competition for story-writing was held once, and most of the jury was quite traditional. None of the members thought much of new literary trends -- except for Abdel-Qader El-Mazni. The jury awarded the prize that year to Mohamed Said El-Erian, for his novel Bab Zuweila. But El-Mazni disagreed, and said that the jury could not disregard the novel I had entered in the competition. They refused to award the prize to my novel, Al-Qahira Al-Gadida (New Cairo), saying that it was too bold: for one thing, its hero was a pimp. The jury also found Midaq Alley beyond the pale. So El-Mazni asked them, 'well, what about Khan Al-Khalili?'
While they were discussing this, they began to raise their voices. At this moment, El-Aqqad was passing. He asked them why they were fighting, and they told him: 'We can't come to an agreement, so you decide. We want to give the prize to Bab Zuweila, and El-Mazni wants to divide it between that novel and Khan Al-Khalili.' I was told that El-Aqqad, after having read both novels, sent to the jury to say that he disagreed with both opinions: he thought the author of Khan Al-Khalili alone should be awarded the prize. So the jury agreed to divide it.
A few years before his death, in an interview on television, he also said I deserved the Nobel. He was the first to predict I would receive it.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
