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Literature 2024

Reem Bassiouney

Egypt

Dr. Reem Bassiouney is an Egyptian author, as well as a professor and chair of the linguistics department at the American University in Cairo since 2013. She previously worked as an assistant professor of linguistics at Georgetown University (2007-2013) and as a lecturer of linguistics at the University of Utah (2005-2007), in addition to teaching at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge (2002-2005), and serving as a member of the judging panels for the Excellence in Literature Award 2024 from the Supreme Council of Culture, as well as the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) in 2023.

Dr. Bassiouney holds a PhD in sociolinguistics from the University of Oxford (2002), a master’s degree in sociolinguistics from the University of Oxford (1998), and a bachelor’s degree in English from Alexandria University (1994). She has garnered acclaim by notable critics from Egypt, other Arab countries, and around the world. Dr. Bassiouney has authored a collection of novels, which were all published in several editions. Most of her works topped the best-seller list and were translated by Dr. Roger Allen, who also worked on the novels of the great Naguib Mahfouz.

About The Book

Bassiouney is working on a project to write historical novels about Egypt in the Middle Ages, where she seeks to shed light on the Egyptian character with narratives that intertwine poetry, architecture, and mythology, while underscoring the human dimension. The author works to construct the narrative of historical and social development in Egypt in that era, using a narrative tone that aligns with the nature of that extended historical period and its intellectual and social dimensions.

Published: 2022