Ahmed Naji on Living in Exile

Photo: Yasmin Hossam El Din

“When I ended up at the prison because of my novel… You start to ask yourself. Is it worth it? I mean writing. Is it worth it? To be here, in prison, for a year or more?”

Ahmed Naji is a writer, journalist, art critic, and criminal. He is the author of Rogers(2007), Using Life (2014), and And Tigers to My Room (2020). He has won several prizes including a Dubai Press Club Award, a PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, and an Open Eye Award. He is currently a City of Asylum Fellow at the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute.