Nabil Farouk (1956-2020) *64

was an Egyptian novelist, best known for his books in the Rewayāt Masreyya Lel Gēb (Egyptian Pocket Novels) series.

He was born in the Egyptian city of Tanta, and first showed an interest in reading at a very young age. With the encouragement of his parents he made his first attempts at writing at the age of about thirteen, and in high school joined journalism, photography, and theatre workgroups.

He received his Master's degree from the University of Tanta in 1980. Just a year before his graduation he received an award from the Cultural Centre of Tanta for his novel The Prophecy, which was later published as the first book of his Cocktail 2000 series.

He started writing Rewayat by following an advertisement in the World of Books magazine, saying that the Modern Arab Association was seeking science fiction novelists. He submitted his novel Ray of Death, and it was published a year later as the first book in Malaf Al Mostakbal (The Future File) series. Soon afterwards he started on his other main series of novels, Ragol Al Mostaheel (The Man of the Impossible), which is said to be based on the actual exploits of an Egyptian Central Intelligence agent called A.S. (alias: Adham Sabri).

He was a doctor, but was not practising medicine, being devoted full-time to his writing. Other than his series, he wrote articles for two newspapers and three magazines, and started working on scripts for television series after finishing two films scripts, with a third one in progress.