Literature Presentation

"Caravan Festival of the Arts 2011"
My Neighbor

Khaled Al-Khamissi

On 14 May 2011, acclaimed Egyptian writer/novelist Khaled Al Khamissi gave a talk , followed by a book-signing. He took an active part in the “25 January Egyptian revolution” and in his talk shared how his findings while writing his best-selling novel Taxi related to the historic happenings in Egypt.

In mid-2010, Khaled Al-Khamissi prophetically remarked: “When I was writing Taxi, between 2005 and 2006 something was stirring, a social movement I had never seen before, ready to demonstrate and protest. It was the start of a new era, a crucial start, the birth of a dream of change…A grass-root social movement, [is] the only [thing] able to create real change in the end”.

Khaled Al Khamissi is author of the international best-selling novel, Taxi. Born in Cairo, he studied first at Cairo University and then obtained a master’s degree in Political Science from the Sorbonne in Paris.

His hugely successful first novel, Taxi – written in Arabic and first translated into English – tells the story of modern Cairo through the eyes of the city’s drivers. A tour of the social and political landscape of modern Cairo through the eyes of 58 taxi drivers, Taxi is a collection of fictional monologues based on Khamissi’s actual conversations with the city’s taxi drivers while traveling around Cairo. Khamissi spent a year riding in Cairo taxis, talking to drivers. His book tells the stories of Egypt's frustrated working class, addressing issues that led to the recent Egyptian revolution. Taxi has now been translated into languages all over the world.

His second and strangely prophetic novel, titled Safinet Noah (Noah’s Ark) focuses on emigration and gives a voice to Egyptian émigrés who have left their country to try their luck abroad. Although from all different walks of life, his characters in Noah’s Ark are united in their desire to leave Egypt with its difficulties, its ‘chaos’ and the absence of a real democracy.

Khamissi is also a journalist, film director and producer, and the owner of The Nile Production Company, which produced TV drama series including The Sun Birds and Nofel’s Prize. He has written, directed and produced many scripts for drama and documentary films and is a regular participant at international film festivals. His screenwriting credits include The Karnak, Isis at Philae and El Guiza. As a journalist, he contributes weekly articles to various Egyptian newspapers and a commentator on social affairs, including Al Ahram and Al Shorouk. He has also worked for the National Institute for Social Studies.

More information about him and his work can be found on his website: www.khaledalkhamissi.com

Khaled Al Khamissi	Audience listening to Khaled Al Khamissi
Khaled Al Khalissi speaking with British artist Lucy Westwood	Khaled Al Khamissi signing books