Yasser Abdellatif

Yasser Abdellatif

/

ياسر عبد اللطيف

Yasser Abdellatif is an Egyptian poet, short-story writer and screenwriter. He graduated with a degree in philosophy from Cairo University in 1994 and published his first collection of poetry a year later. He has worked and lived in Canada since 2010. He writes mainly in Arabic and has translated many literary works from French and English into Arabic. Abdellatif was a resident of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 2009, the same year his second collection of poetry, جولة ليلية (Night Stroll), was released by Dar Merit. He is the author of several fictional works and two poetry collections. Many of his writings have been translated into English, French, German, and Spanish. His debut novel The Law of Inheritance قانون الوراثة (2002) was awarded the Sawiris Cultural Award of 2005. His collection of short stories, Jonah in the Belly of the Whale يونس في أحشاء الحوت, won the same prize in the category of prominent writers in 2011.

Date of birth : 1969
Country of birth: Egypt
Country of residence: Canada
Contact: Karam Youssef

Selected bibliography

  • Qanun al-wiratha  قانون الوراثة ( The Law of Inheritance , 2018), Dar Merit, 2002. 
  • Herencias de El Cairo, Icaria editorial, 2007.
  • The Law of Inheritance, trans. by Robin Moger, Seagull Books, 2018. 
  • Jawla layliyyah  جولة ليلية (working title : Night Stroll),  Dar Merit, 2009
  • Yunis fi ahshaʾ al-hut  يونس في أحشاء الحوت (working title:  Jonah in the Belly of the Whale),  Kotob Khan Books, 2011. 
  • Qasaʾid al- ʿutla al-taw īlah قصائد العطلة الطويلة (working title : Poems of a long Holiday, Kotob Khan Books, 2018. 
  • Mawsim al-awqat al-ʿalya  موسم الأوقات العالية (working title : Season of High Times),  Kotob Khan Books, 2021.

Press

Discovering Egyptian Authors: Yasser Abdel Latif (ArabLit, 21 October 2012)

Roots and Routes: A Conversation with Yasser Abdellatif (Los Angeles Review of Books, 26 January 2019)

Prizes and awards

  • The 2005 Sawiris Prize for his debut novel  قانون الوراثة (Law of Inheritance, 2002)

Book(s) featured on this site

Reviewed by Hiyem Cheurfa