Bahaa Taher (Egypt) was born in Giza, Greater Cairo, in 1935, to Upper Egyptian parents from the village of Karnak, Luxor. He holds postgraduate diplomas in History and Mass Media from Cairo University. He has published 17 books (six novels, five short story collections, and six non-fiction works), as well as numerous translations from English and French. His novel, Sunset Oasis, won the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2008. The book was subsequently published in English in the UK through Sceptre.