Muhammad El Hajj was born in 1986 and grew up in Cairo. He writes novels, short films, digital content and screenplays, including the screenplay of Ayten Amin’s award-winning film Villa 61 (2014). He is also a translator and writes articles in the Egyptian media Mada Masr. His first short story collection, Nobody Mourns the City’s Cats (Dar Al Tanweer, 2018) was well-received and won the Sawiris Cultural Award for the short story (Emerging Writers) category in 2019. He released a second book : On Masculinity: Two short stories and a coloring book for adult males [working title], published by Diwan Publishing, Egypt, in 2022. As in his first collection, most of the characters belong to the Egyptian middle class, and are exploring their expectations and mental representations. As its title suggests, the book deals with issues related to the crisis of masculinity and the male gaze as new social norms and visions come into conflict with traditional ones. This last book received the support of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC).

His Twitter account (in Arabic): twitter.com