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Literature 2014
Dr. Abdel Rasheed Mahmoudi
Egypt
Dr. Mahmoudi is an Egyptian critic and writer, who began his career at UNESCO in Paris as a translator, and later became editor-in-chief of the Arabic edition of the magazine ‘UNESCO’s Message’. He later took over the management of UNESCO’S cultural sector programmes and was appointed as a cultural advisor in the organisation.
Dr. Mahmoudi holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Cairo and London and a Ph.D. in Middle East studies from the UK’s University of Manchester. He has worked as a writer and translator for radio in Cairo and at the Arab section in the BBC in London.
Dr. Mahmoudi’s many interests span poetry, novels, and translation and he is a diligent researcher in philosophy and the history of literature and criticism. He has published a collection of poems, three collections of short stories, and a novel and has translated many books including ‘Bertrand Russell: How my philosophy developed’ and ‘The Shortened Philosophy Encyclopedia’. He has penned a number of books, of which the most important is ‘Taha Hussein: from Al-Azhar to the Sorbonne’ and ‘Lord Shaaban.’