Mohamed Salmawy publishes Naguib Mahfouz interviews in new book

Prominent Egyptian writer Mohamed Salmawy has signed Thursday his latest book "Hiwarat Naguib Mahfouz" about legendary Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, which includes a collection of interviews conducted by Salmawy with him.

The unique collection of interviews, published in the book for the first time, were conducted by Salmawy after Mahfouz survived a failed attempt on his life in October 1994 and were originally published in Al-Ahram daily.

After Mahfouz was left unable to write using his hands following his injury, he had to stop writing his weekly column in Al-Ahram daily, which led Salmawy, a long-time friend of the famous writer, to interview him on a different topic each week so that the interviews could be published instead.

Salmawy has been demanding that a museum be established in honor of the late writer ever since his death. During his discussion of the new book at Al-Ahram Thursday, Salmawy announced that the museum should be established through people's donations instead of through ministerial action.

The 500 hours worth of interviews Salmawy conducted, of which a part was included in the new book published by Al-Ahram, amass a wide variety of Mahfouz's opinions on almost all issues relating to Egyptian society, history and culture.

In addition, the interviews also include his views on prominent figures in Egyptian history, a list diverse enough to include both Saad Zaghloul and Gamal Abdel Nasser, and details of his life after the injury that stopped him from writing with his hand.

Salmawy's book therefore is considered as a look into the mind of one of the greatest influences in modern Arabic literature, an exploration of his ideology and philosophy, told through his own words.

Mahfouz is widely considered one of the most prominent writers and novelists in Egyptian history, he was one of the first contemporary writers to include existentialism in Arabic literature. His most famous works are the three novels of the Cairo Trilogy.

In addition to being the only Arab to win the Nobel Prize for Literature for the Trilogy in 1988, Mahfouz has published 34 novels, more than 350 short stories, five plays and a few film screenplays in his 70-year long career.