Remembering Egyptian Author Gamal Al Ghitani

Most known for his “Zayni Barakat,” Gamal Al Ghitani (1945 – 2015) was a figurative Egyptian novelist, journalist, and editor.

He started his career in journalism when he was sent to cover the updates of the war in Sinai. His literary career witnessed memorable achievements like founding the weekly “Akhbar Al Adab” newspaper (Literature News) in 1993, and he was the EIC of the newspaper.

His novel career reflected the essence of the contemporary avant-garde Egyptian literary movement called “Gallery” as he was its major figure.

Reviving the folk narrative techniques and re-introducing historical portraits of Egypt was one of the main components of his figurative style.

“I have a long story with Egyptian heritage. The extinction of some descriptive narrative techniques draws my attention to re-discover them for having more freedom of expression, my main issue is discovering the heritage of the humanity,” Al Ghitani explained in one of his interviews to Al Hayah Newspaper.

Regarding his most celebrated work “Zayni Barakat,” the events of the story take place in the 16th century Cair, in other words, at the end of the Mamluk reign.

The novel reviewed the social and political conflicting status of the city by observing the events from the angle of the people and the ruler.

According to the AUC press, the novel revolves around the “In the course of my long travels I have never seen a city so devastated…The Egypt of the Mamluk dynasty witnessed a period of artistic ostentation and social and political upheaval, at the heart of which lay the unsolved question of the ruler’s legitimacy.”

Directed by the iconic Yehia El Alami, The novel was turned into a TV series starring Ahmed Bedeir and Nabil El Halafawy, Abdel Rahman Abu Zahra and Sahar Rami.

Ghitani’s many honors included the Egyptian State Prize for the Novel (1980), the French Chevalier de l’Order des Arts et des Lettres (1987), and the Egyptian State Prize for Literature (2007), and in June 2015 he was conferred with the Nile Award in Literature, Egypt’s highest national literary prize.

His most known works include Waqa’i Haret Al-Za’farani (Incidents in Zafrani Alley), Khitat Al-Ghiṭani, Khitab Al-Tajalliyat (The Book of Epiphanies), and Al-Majalis Al-Mahfuẓiyah (Mahfouz’s Dialogs).

After living a long impressive journey with literature, Al Ghitani passed away in 2015 leaving behind hundreds of novels, studies, and articles.