Authors

Hamdy El-Gazzar

 

Hamdy El-Gazzar is an Egyptian writer, and one of the 39 young Arab writers included in the Beirut 39 Project. His first novel, Sihr Aswad (Dar Merit, 2005) won the prestigious Sawaris Award, and was subsequently translated by Humphrey Davies (Black Magic, AUC Press, 2007). His second novel, Ladhdhat Sirriyya (Secret Pleasures) was published by Dar al-Dar in 2008. He is currently working on a third novel.

ARTICLES BY Hamdy El-Gazzar

  • April Girl

    April Girl

    He stands erect on top his new, shiny yellow tank, like a solid mass of khaki. Slung across his broad chest, resting in his hands is his military-issue rifle. His whole being tense and serious, yet from his watchful pose he turns slowly with a smile on his boyish face, happy to see the crowds of..

  • A Prayer

    A Prayer

    Friday, January 28, 2011, Day of Gathering

    Giza Square, despite its vastness, feels tight and constricted. No wonder. First, they corralled up all the sidewalks with four-foot iron rails that seemed sinister and repugnant in our eyes. Then they painted the crumbling facades of the old buil..

  • Love

    Love

    Tahrir Square—at the corner of Qasr al-Nil Street. In front of the Tourism and Travel Company, Tahrir Koshary restaurant, and the little store that sells tamarind blossoms. Between the sidewalk and the thick iron guardrail designed to block the flow of pedestrians across the square. Where the si..

  • Dawn

    Dawn

    — Translated from the Arabic by Amira Hanafi

    Dawn on Saturday, January 29th, the world around us a vacuum, an emptiness steeped in solitude and silence after yesterday’s volcano.

    Yesterday—day, evening, and n..

  • Quoth the Grandmother -- قالت الجدة

    Quoth the Grandmother -- قالت الجدة

    [This piece is from Hamdy El-Gazzar`s current writing project entitled, Our Revolution: Stories To Fit in the Palm of Your Hand]

    The lady is old. Elderly, timeworn. Nearly 92. Long years old. One of the wonders of the world…

    Look — do you see her small, round dark-bro..