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Hamdi Abu Golayyel

ハムディ・アブー・ゴライイェル

Hamdi Abu Golayyel

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1968-01-01 （a Bedouin village in the Fayoum region, Egypt）
Died
2023-06-12 （Cairo, Egypt） age 55
Nationality
Egyptian
Languages
Arabic
Residence History
Fayoum (birthplace) → Cairo (long-term residence)

Career

Occupations
writer, novelist, short story writer, editor, journalist
Active Years
1997-2023
Affiliations
Editor-in-chief, "Popular Studies" folklore research series, Egyptian Ministry of Culture

Awards

Naguib Mahfouz Medal
2009
Work: A Dog with No Tail
Organization: American University in Cairo (Naguib Mahfouz Medal)
Result: winner
Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation
2022
Work: The Men Who Swallowed the Sun (English translation)
Organization: Banipal (UK)
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Swarm of Bees

1997 short story collection

A 1997 collection of short stories containing early works that draw on Bedouin heritage and the lives of working-class Egyptians.

Bedouin heritageclasscolloquial style

Items Folded with Great Care

2000 short story collection

A 2000 collection of short stories that portrays Bedouin-background characters and everyday scenes in a sardonic, conversational style; it received several literary recognitions.

ironyorigin and identitysocial marginality

Tayy El Khiyaam (Folding the Tents)

2010 short story collection

A 2010 collection including stories that address Bedouin culture, mobility, and settlement.

movement and settlementcultural transmission

Thieves in Retirement

novel

A novel set in an overcrowded building in Cairo, portraying a cross-section of Egyptian society and themes of urban alienation and displacement. Translated into English by Marilyn Booth and published by Syracuse University Press.

urban alienationcommunity and isolationsocial stratification
Translations
  • English translation by Marilyn Booth (Syracuse University Press)

A Dog with No Tail

2009 novel

A 2009 novel that won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal, depicting the lives of working-class and marginalized people.

working-class lifemarginalizationidentity
Translations
  • English translation by Robin Moger (AUC Press)

The Men Who Swallowed the Sun

novel

A novel dealing with family, community, and social change. The English translation by Humphrey Davies received acclaim and won a translation prize.

familycommunitysocial change
Translations
  • English translation by Humphrey Davies

My Mother’s Rooster

2024 novel

A posthumously published novel dealing with late-life perspectives and family memories (published 2024, posthumous).

family memoryreminiscencelegacy

Bibliography

  • Swarm of Bees
  • Items Folded with Great Care
  • Tayy El Khiyaam (Folding the Tents)
  • Thieves in Retirement
  • A Dog with No Tail
  • The Men Who Swallowed the Sun
  • My Mother’s Rooster

Translations of Works

  • Thieves in Retirement — English translation by Marilyn Booth
  • A Dog with No Tail — English translation by Robin Moger
  • The Men Who Swallowed the Sun — English translation by Humphrey Davies

Style & Themes

Literary Style
colloquial, conversational prosesatirical and sardonic tonesocial realism
Recurring Motifs
Bedouin background and traditionsworking-class and marginalizationurban alienation

Legacy

Hamdi Abu Golayyel was recognized for works depicting Bedouin origins and working-class life, regarded as one of the new voices in 21st-century Egyptian literature. His work gained international attention through translations.

Quotes

  • a chronicler of the lives of Egypt’s marginalized and working-class.
    Source: ArabLit (literary magazine) (2023)

Trivia

  • Worked as a construction laborer in Cairo in his youth; those experiences informed his fiction.
  • His ancestors migrated from Libya to the Fayoum region in the early 19th century.
  • Served as editor-in-chief of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture's "Popular Studies" folklore series.
  • Died on 12 June 2023 (aged about 55).
  • Posthumous novel "My Mother’s Rooster" was published in 2024.