Bahaa Taher
Bahaa Taher () (born 1935), sometimes transliterated as Bahaa Tahir, Baha Taher, or Baha Tahir, is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer who writes in Arabic. He was awarded the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2008. Biography. Taher was born in Cairo in 1935. He graduated in literature from the University of Cairo. He was one of the Egyptian artists who contributed to the avant-garde literary magazine "Galerie 68". Upon being banned from writing in 1975, he left Egypt and travelled widely in Africa and Asia seeking work as a translator. During the 1980s and  1990s he lived in Switzerland, where he worked as a translator for the United Nations. Afterwards he returned to Egypt, where he continues to reside. Novels. East of the Palms (1985) () His first novel was published in serialized form. Qalat Duha (1985) Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery (1991) () His third novel, set in Upper Egypt, concerns a blood feud as a result of which a young Muslim man, fleeing vengeance, finds sanctuary in a Coptic monastery. Love in Exile (1995) () His fourth novel deals with the massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982 . The Point of Light (2001) Sunset Oasis (2007) () His sixth novel is set in 19th century Egypt at the beginning of the British occupation of the country. The protagonist of the book is a nationalist Egyptian police officer who suffers from an existential crisis. Political views. In his youth he was involved in left wing causes, and was a supporter of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s development program for Egypt. He feels that Anwar El Sadat’s ending of this policy has been a disaster for Egypt. He calls himself a pan-Arabist, but he says that he does not see  much good in the Arab regimes of today. He feels that Westerners want to see exoticism, gender discrimination, and problems between minorities in the works of Arab writers, but he refuses to comply with these stereotypes.