Bahaa Taher

Bahaa Taher (; 13 January 1935 – 27 October 2022), sometimes transliterated as Bahaa Tahir, Baha Taher, or Baha Tahir, was an Egyptian novelist and short story writer who wrote in Arabic. He was awarded the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2008.

Biography Taher was born in Giza Governorate on 13 January 1935, with roots from Luxor in Upper Egypt. He had a bachelor's degree in history, literature faculty in 1956, then a postgraduate diploma in media from the University of Cairo in 1973. He was one of the Egyptian artists who contributed to the avant-garde literary magazine Galerie 68. Upon being banned from writing in 1975, he left Egypt and travelled widely in Africa and Asia seeking work as a translator.

Novels East of the Palms (1985) His first novel was published in serialized form.

Translations Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery has been translated into ten languages, The translation was published by American University in Cairo Press in 2001 and later reissued by Arabia Books. Qalat Doha (As Doha Said) was translated by Peter Daniel and published by the American University in Cairo Press in 2008. Sunset Oasis was translated into English by Humphrey Davies and was published in the UK in 2009 by Sceptre. Sunset Oasis was translated into Norwegian by Unn Gyda Næss and is published by Vigmostad og Bjørke. Norwegian title: "Der solen går ned". Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery was translated into Georgian by Zviad Tskhvetiani and is published by წიგნები ბათუმში. Georgian title: დეიდა საფია და მონასტერი.

Awards 1998 State Award of Merit in Literature, which is Egypt's highest literary award. 2000 Italian Giuseppe Acerbi Prize for Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery. 2008 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for Sunset Oasis. He is the first winner of this prize.

Political views In his youth he was involved in left wing causes, and was a supporter of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s development program for Egypt. He felt that Anwar El Sadat’s ending of this policy has been a disaster for Egypt. He called himself a pan-Arabist, but he said that he did not see much good in the Arab regimes of today. He felt that Westerners want to see exoticism, gender discrimination, and problems between minorities in the works of Arab writers, but he refused to comply with these stereotypes.