The Other Place, by: Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid
Al-Balda Al-Okhra (The Other Place), by: Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, (Cairo: Al-Dar Al-Masiryah Al-Lubnaniah), 2019.
Al-Dar Al-Masiryah Al-Lubnaniah has republished Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid's famous novel Al-Balda Al-Okhra (The Other Place), which was originally published in 1991.
The novel takes place in the 70's, a delicate decade for Egypt and the region especially after the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
The protagonist of the novel, a young educated middle-class Egyptian from Alexandria called Ismail, travels to one of the oil rich Gulf countries to work as a teacher in pursuit of his dreams and earning money he can't earn in his country. Ismail meets people from all walks of lif, different nationalities, and describes his own experiences, the experiences of migrant workers and professionals in one of the Gulf states, and their interaction with the oil-rich country's local elite.
The novel was translated into English by Farouk Abdel-Wahab in 2006 and published by The American University in Cairo Press.
Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, 72, is a renowned Egyptian novelist, best known for his novel "No One Sleeps in Alexandria," his works have been translated into many lanugauges including English and French. Abdel-Meguid won various awards, including the Mahfouz Medal for Literature from the American University in Cairo Press (AUC) and Sawiris Award for Literature for Established writers.
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