Born: 11 December 1911 · Died: 30 August 2006 · Age at death: 94
How old was Naguib Mahfouz when he died?
Naguib Mahfouz died aged 94. He was born on 11 December 1911 and died on 30 August 2006.
Egyptian novelist of the Cairo Trilogy who became the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
Did you know?He spent most of his life working as a civil servant and wrote only in his spare time.
Quick facts
Date of birth11 December 1911
Date of death30 August 2006
Age at death94
Cause of deathChronic renal insufficiency, bacterial pneumonia
NationalityEgyptian
BirthplaceCairo, Egypt
Occupationnovelist, screenwriter, translator
Editor's Take:
Naguib Mahfouz brought the streets and families of Cairo to readers all over the world. His Cairo Trilogy follows three generations of a family through the changes of early twentieth-century Egypt. He wrote with great sympathy about ordinary people, their dreams and their struggles. In 1988 he became the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Some of his work provoked religious controversy, and in 1994 he survived a knife attack, but he continued writing into his nineties.
Key Milestones
1939: Publishes his first novel
1956: Publishes the Cairo Trilogy
1988: Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature
1994: Survives an assassination attempt
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature.