Ezzat el Kamhawi


Ezzat el Kamhawi is an Egyptian novelist and journalist. In December 2012, el Kamhawi was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for his novel House of the Wolf.
He was born in 1961 and graduated from the department of journalism in the Faculty of Mass Communications, Cairo University in 1983.

Early life and career

El Kamhawi was born on 23 December 1961 in Sharqia Governorate, Egypt, before graduating from high school he had articles published for him in the Al Gomhuria newspaper.
After graduating from the department of journalism in the Faculty of Mass Communications, Cairo University, he started working for Al-Akhbar, where he helped establish Akhbar Al-Adab 10 years later, a widely known literature magazine. He was the Senior Editor of al-Doha Cultural Magazine from May 2011 until September 2013.

''The City of Pleasure''

A city like no other, guarded by the goddess of pleasure and, ruled by a licentious king who dedicated his time to carnal pleasures and a princess who dreams of love and tender empathy. The priests decide to design the walls of the princess's room with figures of embracing lovers and burnt incense and chanted their magical incantations that the pictures on the wall may come to life and the dream of the princess for true love might come true.
People real and shadowy, strong slaves and emperors have met their doom at the gates of the City of Pleasure. Eventually the gates of the impenetrable city succumbs under the charm of two ingenious commodities: fried potatoes and pepsi-cola.
No one knows the real history of the City of Pleasure and no welcome visitor has ever escaped its enchantment.
This is the novel that has been structured from human myths melted down and recreated one of the most perfectly executed literary whims. It is no longer possible to speak of modern Arabic literary narrative without including The City of Pleasure and the enriching addition it has provided to the art of the modern Arabic novel par excellence.

Works

His published literary works include: