A long-time radio producer and translator, Taher published quietly across decades. Khalti Safiyya wa-l-Dayr (Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery, 1991) is a beautifully restrained novel of vendetta and reconciliation in Upper Egypt. Wahat al-Ghurub (Sunset Oasis, 2007), a historical novel set in Siwa under British rule, won the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2008.
Recurring themes
Upper Egypt and Siwa
Coptic-Muslim coexistence
the historical novel
the quiet voice
Selected works
- 1985East of the Palms
- 1991Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery
- 1995Love in Exile
- 2007Sunset Oasis
- 2008I Am the King I Have Brought