Sonallah Ibrahim

An Egyptian novelist who leans toward leftist thought and is one of the controversial writers, especially after his refusal to receive the Arab Novel Prize in 2003, which is awarded by the Supreme Council of Culture. He was imprisoned for more than five years from 1959 to 1964 in the context of a campaign launched by Gamal Abdel Nasser against the left. Sanallah Ibrahim's literary works are distinguished by their close connection with his biography on the one hand, and with Egypt's political history on the other hand. One of Sonallah Ibrahim's most famous novels is “The Committee,” which was published in 1981, and is a satirical satire of the policy of openness pursued during the Sadat era. Sanallah Ibrahim also depicted the Lebanese civil war in his 1984 novel Beirut, Beirut. His novel Sharaf was chosen as the third best Arabic novel according to the Arab Writers Union classification