Naguib Mahfouz, the first and only Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature died Wednesday morning in Cairo, his doctor said. He was 94.
Mahfouz, whose novels depicted Egyptian life in his beloved corner of ancient Cairo, was rushed to the hospital more than a month ago for an injury to his head. His physician, Dr. Hossam Mowafi, said he died Wednesday morning after a sharp decline.
"His wife last night was whispering in his ears and he was smiling and nodding," Mowafi said, according to the AP.
In 1994, an attacker inspired by a militant cleric's ruling that a Mahfouz novel written decades before was blasphemous stabbed the then-82-year-old writer as he left his Cairo home. Mahfouz survived, but the attack damaged nerves leading to his right arm, seriously impairing his ability to write.
Still, Mahfouz maintained a busy schedule well into his 90s. In his final years, he would go out six nights a week to meet friends at Cairo's literary watering holes, trading jokes, ideas for stories and news of the day.
