Add/Update Information: Alfred Faraj - Writer

An Egyptian playwright, born on February 23, 1929 in Zagazig. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University, Department of English Language, in 1949, and worked as an English language teacher for six years. He was arrested from 1959 to 1964 because of his leftist ideology, and after his release from prison he received a full-time grant from the Ministry of Culture, so he turned to writing plays, including The Barber of Baghdad (1963), and Suleiman al-Halabi (1965). He worked as a consultant for theatrical groups programs, and as a literary adviser to the General Authority for Theater and Music, then director of the comedy theater. In 1973 he traveled to Algeria, where he worked as a consultant for the Department of Culture in the city of Oran, and for the Department of Culture at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. In 1979 he left Algeria for London to work as a cultural editor for Arab newspapers there. He won several awards, such as The State Encouragement Award for Playwriting in 1965, The Medal of Science and Arts of the First Class. He passed away on December 4, 2005 in London.