Bahaa Taher (Arabic: بهاء طاهر, IPA: [bæˈhæːʔ ˈtˤɑːheɾ]) (born 1935 in Cairo, Egypt), sometimes transliterated as Bahaa Tahir, Baha Taher, or Baha Tahir, is an Egyptian novelist who writes in Arabic. He was awarded the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2008.
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Taher was born in Cairo in 1935.[1] He graduated in literature from the University of Cairo. Upon being banned from writing in 1975,[2] he left Egypt and travelled widely in Africa and Asia seeking work as a translator.[2] 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 continues to reside.
(شرق النخيل) His first novel was first published in serialized form.[2]
(قالت ضحى)
(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.
(الحب في المنفى) His fourth novel deals with the massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.
(نقطة النور)
(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.[3][4]
In his youth he was involved in left wing causes,[1] and was a supporter of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s development program for Egypt.[2] He feels that Anwar El Sadat’s ending of this policy has been a disaster for Egypt.[2] He calls himself a pan-Arabist, but he says that he does not see much good in the Arab regimes of today.[2] He feels that Westerners want to see exoticism, gender discrimination, and problems between minorities in the works of Arab writers, but he refuses to comply with these stereotypes.[2]