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Naguib Mahfouz was born in the Gamaliya quarter of Cairo. A longtime civil servant, Mahfouz served in the Ministry of Mortmain Endowments, then as Director of Censorship in the Bureau of Art, as Director of the Foundation for the Support of the Cinema, and, finally, as a consultant to the Ministry of Culture. During his career he has published more than 30 novels. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1988.
Many of his novels are written in serialized form – e.g., Midaq Alley.
Many of Mahfouz's works have been banned in the Middle East for alleged blasphemy. One of his earlier works, Children of Gebelawi (1959) earned him a fatwa for apostasy from Omar Abdul-Rahman . As a result, in 1994 – some 35 years after the fatwa was issued – Mahfouz was attacked and stabbed in the neck by two extremists outside his Cairo home, at the age of 83. He now lives under constant bodyguard protection. When a fatwa was issued against Salman Rushdie in 1989, Abdul-Rahman said that it would not have been necessary had the death sentence he had issued against Mahfouz been carried out.
US trumpeter and composer Dave DouglasDave Douglas is a US Jazz trumpeter and composer. He is generally acclaimed for his perfomances and especially his songwriting, which often draws on many non-jazz musical styles. Since 1993, Douglas has recorded 20 albums as a bandleder. He has performed titled a song on his 20012001 is a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and also: The International Year of the Volunteer The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations Events January January 1 A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall ap album Witness "Mahfouz". The 25-minute piece features singer Tom WaitsThomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American composer, singer, musician and actor. Early Career Born in Pomona, California, Waits' recording career began in 1971, after he relocated to Los Angeles and signed with Herb Cohen, manager of Frank Z reading an excerpt from Mahfouz's works.