Ties of friendship

By Naguib Mahfouz

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I was greatly saddened by news of the death of Said Gouda El-Sahar, the owner of Maktabat Misr. He was an innovative publisher and a great supporter of culture, from the 50s until the end of his life.

I was great friends with his younger brother, the late Abdel-Hamid Gouda Al-Sahar, who often used to drop by the Arabi coffee shop with his friends. We were all writers facing the usual difficulties in finding a publisher. At the time I used to write, edit it then put the manuscript in a draw in my desk. Abdel-Hamid had the idea of setting up a publishing committee for university students and if it hadn't been for his elder brother Said, and the support he gave, the committee would never have existed.

That committee allowed a whole generation of writers - Adel Kamel, Ali Ahmed, Amin Youssef Ghurab and many more besides - to escape their publishing crises.

The project was not profitable, and we all agreed to waive any fee for our first books.

The first thing I published with them was Radobis, followed by The Good Fight and then Khan Al-Khalili. After I was awarded the Nobel prize other publishing houses offered to publish them on better terms but I couldn't forget the kindness of the Al-Sahar family towards me when I was starting out, and I've never abandoned them.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.