Mohamed Shoair

Mohamed Shoair is an Egyptian critic and journalist, born in Qena in 1974. He is currently managing editor of the Akhbar al-Adab newspaper, having previously edited Aalem al-Kutub magazine and the Bab Masr website, specialising in culture and heritage. Shoair has won a number of prizes, including the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate Award Award (seven times between 2005 and 2017) and the Dubai Journalism Award (2005, 2008, 2016). Further, he won Egypt’s Sawiris Award in 2019 for his non-fiction work The Story of the Banned Book: Naguib Mahfouz’s Children of the Alley (2018), which was later translated into English by the American University in Cairo Press. It was also longlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. His published works include Writings Whilst on Guard Duty: Letters of Abdel Hakim Qasem (2010); Memoirs of Miss. Um Kulthoum (2018); Stones and Medals; Tales from the Archive of Journalism, Culture and Art (2019); and Beginnings and Endings: The Years of Naguib Mahfouz (2021).