The award-winning Egyptian author Ashraf Elashmawy in conversation with the translator Peter Daniel

Available in English, German and Arabic

The Egyptian author and winner of the 2026 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the Literature category creates vivid characters who, through ingenuity and perseverance, hold their own in a world marked by rapid change. The socially satirical novelettes in Births in the Zoo (Arabic original published by Al Dar Al Masriah Al Lubnaniah in 2024) include, for example, an idealistic vet who, together with his fiancée, tries to reclaim his birthplace – an animal keeper’s hut in the Giza Zoo – only to be forced to impersonate lions that died after being fed cost-cutting tainted meat ahead of a presidential visit. The Lady of Zamalek (English translation by Peter Daniel, Hoopoe 2021) features five compelling narrators whose intersecting lives are entangled with a protagonist's acquisition of wealth and political influence through murder, theft, and fraud. Together, they create a gripping epic of modern Egypt that spans from monarchy through the 1952 Revolution and the Nasser, Sadat and early Mubarak eras. In The House of the Coptic Woman (English translation by Peter Daniel, Hoopoe 2023), Elashmawy delivers an explosive story of a young prosecutor whose life is turned around when handling the case of an Upper Egyptian village woman who dares to make a fresh start against a backdrop of conservative rural mores.

In conversation with the award-winning author and his English translator Peter Daniel, the discussion centers on the creation of these vivid characters, the tradition of Arab realism, new narrative techniques, and the documentary perspective of a gripping literary work.

An event organized by Litprom/Frankfurter Buchmesse and Sheikh Zayed Book Award with the following panelists:

• Ashraf Elashmawy, Author, Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2026 Literature Laureate
• Peter Daniel, Translator of two of Ashraf Elashmawy's works into English for Hoopoe / AUC Press

Moderator: Cornelia Wegerhoff, Journalist and cultural reporter

Please note: Frankfurter Buchmesse Trade Visitor Tickets for this professional event will be scanned on site upon entry.