Maher Abou Elsaoud was born in Cairo on 20 December 1964. He studied
film making in Paris before coming to Australia in 1991.
He
has worked as a factory worker, storeman, kitchen hand, cook and
security guard. In Egypt and the Middle East he has sold many tens of
thousands of copies of his fiction, including the Arabic version of
Cairo Paris Melbourne.
He
has made two short films and one documentary about cultural differences
in Australia. In 2010, he moved to Egypt to write the script for the
movie of his novel
The
Legend of Schnedar. Shooting was disrupted by Egypt’s Arab
Spring.
Maher
Elsaoud was active politically during the Revolution, writing for
newspapers and magazines and on Facebook. He was present in Tahrir
Square and describes this as the best experience he has ever had.
Fighting for freedom on the ground and facing death without fear was a
completely different story to writing about it.
The author at The Black
Cat café in Fitzroy in the 1990s
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Other
Books by Elsaoud (in Arabic)
The Court of
East and West (short stories, 1996)
A Tale of a Long Night (1997)
The Prince of the City (1999)
Cairo Paris Melbourne (2004)
The
Legend of Schneider (2006)
Something
Cooking (2008
)
Biography
