Award Winning Novelist Gamal Al Ghitani Dies At Age 70

Sadness shrouds Cairo once again as news has emerged that renowned novelist and journalist Gamal Al-Ghitani has passed away at the age of 70.

Born in 1945, this influential awarding-winning novelist, founded the popular “Akhbar Al Adab” newspaper in 1993, and served as its editor-in-chief until 2011. Experiencing breathing problems mid August, the renowned journalist slipped into a coma and was pronounced dead at Cairo’s El Galaa Military Hospital this morning.

Inspired by his close friend and Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, El-Ghitani's work has earned him multiple awards and has been translated into several languages including French, German, and English. Winner of 1980’s Egyptian National Prize for Literature, as well as the 1987 French Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, his beautiful mind and literary prowess will be missed, but not forgotten.

His funeral is set to take place at Cairo’s Sayyieda Nafisa Mosque this afternoon.