Best-selling Egyptian novelist Alaa al-Aswany is at no loss for words when it comes to expressing his high regard for women: “I believe that there are more heroines than heroes – both in literature and in life.” Watch his interesting reasons.
The role of the woman is pivotal to al-Aswany, who is a great admirer of their strength and “energy of life.” This also applies to his writing: “As soon as a woman character enters the writing – the writing goes much better.”
Alaa al-Aswany (b. 1957 in Cairo, Egypt) is one of the Middle East’s most popular novelists and Egypt’s biggest selling. His second novel ‘The Yacoubian Building’, which is an ironic depiction of modern Egyptian society, was published in 2002 and quickly gained national as well as international recognition, not least due to its straightforward depiction of (homosexual) sexuality and avid corruption. In 2013, al-Aswany published his third novel ‘The Automobile Club of Egypt’. Moreover, he still works as a dentist.
Alaa al-Aswany was interviewed by Bjørn Bredal at the Louisiana Literature festival at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark in 2014.
Camera: Klaus Elmer, Simon Weyhe og Nikolaj Jungersen
Edited by: Kamilla Bruus
Produced by: Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2015
Supported by Nordea-fonden
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