In what may be the first English translation of an Arab horror/science fiction author, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing announced it will publish Ahmed Khaled Tawfiq’s bestselling Arabic novel Utopia in English in autumn 2011. Tawfiq is the Arab world’s most prolific horror and science fiction writer (and you may have seen his surname translated as Tawfik or Taufiq). Since its release in 2008, Tawfiq’s novel has enjoyed wide acclaim and was reprinted three times to fulfill the overwhelming demand of Arab readers. “With over 200 published titles, Tawfiq has perfected the art of horror and science fiction” BQFP says.
BQFP describes Utopia as a grim futuristic account of Egyptian society in 2023 where gated communities insulate the wealthy from the bleak realities of Egyptian life: “A young man and a young girl break away from the idyllic bubble of affluence they know, and delve into the harsh existence of the impoverished Egyptians that live right outside the fortified gates of their compounds. Utopia’s twists and turns will certainly leave readers in suspense until the very last page.”
Tawfiq was born in 1962 in the city of Tanta, Egypt. In 1985, he graduated from Tanta University’s medical school, and later received a PhD in 1997. In January 1993, he published the first installment in his Ma Waraa Al Tabiaa series of novels titled The Vampire and The Legend of the Werewolf.
BQFP is a joint venture between Bloomsbury Publishing and the Qatar Foundation (the Tanjara).
http://thetanjara.blogspot.com/2010/07/bqfp-signs-up-ahmed-khaled-taufiqs.html
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