naguib mahfouz (1911-2006)

Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz, the only writer in Arabic to win the Nobel Prize for literature, died on Wednesday in Cairo aged 94, doctors said...

"He came to this world only to write," Egyptian writer Youssef al-Quaid told Egyptian television.

"He was the most famous writer in Egypt ... He had an incredible ability to create and create all his life."

Mahfouz, a prolific writer best known for his Cairo Trilogy, became a literary force when he moved beyond traditional novels to realistic descriptions of Egypt's 20th century experience of colonialism and autocracy.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1988 for works which "formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind."

Update: The Elegant Variation has a thorough collection of links on the death of Mahfouz.
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