The Modern Novel

Biography

Sonallah Ibrahim (aka Ṣunʿ Allāh Ibrāhīm) was born in Cairo in 1937. His father was a civil servant and his mother a nurse. He studied law at Cairo University. He joined the Marxist Democratic Movement for National Liberation but when Nasser decided to repress the communists, he was jailed for seven years, but released after five when Khrushchev visited the Aswan Dam. He decided to become a writer while in prison. He has gone on to write several novels, some of which have been translated into English.

Books about Sonallah Ibrahim

Paul Starkey: Sonallah Ibrahim Rebel with a Pen

Other links

Sonallah Ibrahim
Sonallah Ibrahim: Egypt’s Oracular Novelist
Sonallah Ibrahim Odd Man Out
Ṣunʿ Allāh Ibrāhīm
Interview