Why Should We Translate the Novels of Ahmed Khaled Tawfik? – ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY
By Melissa Krawczyk
Ahmed Khaled Tawfik (أحمد خالد توفيق) was a prolific, celebrated, and beloved Egyptian author who wrote in both Egyptian and Classical Arabic. A trailblazing contemporary author of the Arabic horror, fantasy, science fiction, and medical thriller genres, Tawfik was known for his atypical heroes—ordinary people rather than the polished heroes of Arabic folk literary tradition. He aimed to turn young people into avid readers and enjoyed imbuing his works with scientific and medical knowledge, which should come as no surprise: Dr. Tawfik was a Professor of Tropical Diseases at Tanta University throughout his writing career. Yet despite having published hundreds of popular works—including three expansive series of pocket novels aimed at young adults (Paranormal, Safari, and Fantazia)—for the most part, only his novel Utopia has been published in translation (English, French, Italian, and German), with the addition of The Devil’s Mirror (Lo specchio di Satana) in Italian.
The Paranormal series alone has reportedly sold more than 15 million copies, is still in print, and has never been translated, despite the fact that Netflix released an original Egyptian series based on the books in 2020, with subtitles in more than thirty languages and dubbing in nine. Though many of us would say film adaptations are rarely a sufficient substitute for books—no matter how thrilling it is to see favorite characters come to life on screen—I admit to binge watching the short series over the course of just two days.
Paranormal lead actor Ahmed Amin said, “It’s the first Egyptian series on a global platform where it will be subtitled and dubbed into many languages—it’s showing in 190 countries.” Creator of the TV series, Amr Salama, has been a fan of Tawfik’s writing for much of his life: “I started reading the books when I was around 10 years old…Tawfik was a rock star to me.” Salama discovered the character Refaat Ismail when he was a young teenager: “I discovered this anti-hero that faces these otherworldly things with nothing but his intelligence and a little insight.”
I personally discovered “the Godfather” Ahmed Khaled Tawfik after searching for Arabic youth fiction that would be fun to translate and interesting for reluctant readers. I am enthusiastic about stories that tempt young people to read and to become readers, so I want to translate books that will capture the interest of young adults and make them crave more.
As I searched for speculative fiction aimed at young people—including science fiction, fantasy, and adventure—I found that while the selection of published Arabic books in these genres isn’t as wide as I might like, there has been rapid growth in the past several decades, especially in young adult fiction. Tawfik’s work was mentioned by multiple friends and colleagues as a cherished part of their youth. Fellow translator Nourhan ElMor, who first suggested I consider his multiple series of YA novels, only discovered his books when she was 26 years old:
“I remember the first Paranormal issue I read, The Myth of the Swamp Horror. That’s when I fell in love with his books, and with reading. I’m not much of a reader, but Dr. Ahmed, rest his soul, made me read. With his words, he opened new worlds for me, and made me live in his stories. And for that I’ll forever be grateful.”
Her husband Shehab Saif, a marketing content manager, had even more to say:
“The first time I read a book by Dr. Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, I was a teenager in secondary school. It was a random bookstore where I found a book named The Myth of the Swamp Horror and it started a magical journey…I was hooked from the first book I read, and I read the full series over the years. I will always remember this part of my life that got me to expand my reading passion and develop a new passion for writing…he became my mentor and moral guide, and he never let his readers down…he said that when he died, he wanted the words “I made the youth read” engraved on his tomb, and it happened. They read and they are grateful.”
Their enthusiasm was infectious, and I quickly started reading about his work. I was immediately dismayed to learn that Dr. Tawfik had sadly died an untimely death in April 2018 at the age of 55. He was beloved, and it was reported that his young fans “gathered in droves for the author’s funeral.”
Literary translator Hisham Fahmy, who has translated George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series into Arabic, in addition to translating multiple other science fiction and fantasy novels, said in an interview: “We need more Arab translators who are passionate about pop fiction in order for us to keep up with what people are reading all around the world, and we need as many translators who would translate great Arabic works into different languages.”
Fahmy also wrote a blog entry reflecting on the life of Tawfik and his personal relationship with the author. I’ve selected a few quotes that stood out for me.
“I know I owe Ahmed Khaled Tawfik a great debt of gratitude. His entertaining, insightful writings appeared in my life at a time when I was lost between childish magazines I was getting bored of and heavy books (literally and metaphorically) whose language was still difficult for me to comprehend. He gave me keys to all kinds of knowledge in the simplest, most amusing way possible. Now, I try to repay that debt by giving every new translation my best, as if he would still read it and tell me his thoughts.”
“He never saw himself as a great writer or someone who deserved honors and credits, but he believed that he had to do his part in making young adults read.”
Fahmy dared to say that Tawfik was “the most important” influence on his readers, and that the author was proud of his readers when they did remarkable things.
In an essay for ArabLit written a few months after Tawfik’s death, Dr. Emad El-Din Aysha (researcher, journalist, translator and member of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction) wrote “He presented complex characters in a simple, threadbare form, and gave us tremendously fun stories told in picturesque and surprisingly vivid settings, and he was an expert storyteller, too.”
In the same piece, he noted that contemporary author Ahmed Salah Al-Mahdi said that “one of the major contributions of Ahmed Khalid Tawfik’s novellas was to break away, once and for all, from the squeaky clean image of the hero in Arabic writing. This is someone Arabs have inherited from their folklore, stories of daring heroes and knights on horseback, and continued into the modern period even in the pocketbook format.”
“The imagery and simplicity, and at the same time richness of the language used was top rate, just the kind of thing to interest you in reading as a reward in its own right. And not so much his paranormal or SF stories, but his Safari series, which didn’t have any extraordinary powers at all. These books captivated Ahmed Al-Mahdi’s imagination because they introduced a world to which he didn’t have access. That was one of the most important points of the author’s legacy, bringing all these things to your doorstep. You felt you were living with them.”
While preparing this piece, I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Faycel AlAhmar (also Faycel Lahmeur), author of the science fiction novel (أمين العلواني ) Amin AlAlawani for his thoughts. He wrote “I believe that it is his simple and accessible style which makes him a sort of icon of the genre, giving him at the same time a very wide readership.” (As a side note, Amin AlAlawani has not been translated, and Dr. AlAhmar holds the rights.)
I also read interviews with Tawfik, and in one interview with Cheryl Morgan in 2012, Tawfik himself said:
“I have translated a lot of science fiction. Young people in Egypt today can read Ray Bradbury, Arthur Clarke, Isaac Asimov. I am very proud to have done this. But science fiction is a relatively new innovation in Egypt. People there have only been writing novels for just over 100 years, starting with Francis Fathallah in Syria or Haikal in Egypt. Before that we had very little fantastical literature, except for the Arabian Nights. Sophisticated new inventions such as science fiction are very rare. Most people still are not aware of it, or don’t understand it. It will take 50 to 100 years before it is respected.”
Tawfik certainly did his part to add to the Arabic speculative fiction field.
Since his death, interest in his work has continued to grow. The Egyptian publisher of Tawfik’s work, Rewayat Masreya Al-Geeb, was at the 55th Cairo International Book Fair with all new Arabic pocket-sized editions of Tawfik’s Safari series and also announced that the Safari and Fantazia series have joined the Paranormal series in audiobook and e-book formats on Storytel. Goodreads contains tens of thousands of heartfelt reviews for his work and his author page has nearly thirty thousand followers. We have every reason to believe that young readers around the world would enjoy Tawfik’s books too, if they could only access them.
As a new generation of young Arabic readers discovers and falls in love with Ahmed Khaled Tawfik’s work, this is the perfect time to bring these series to the rest of the young readers around the world—through translation. The rights are available. Translators are ready. Let’s publish!
Ahmed Khaled Tawfik’s popular pocket book novels
(سافارى) Safari series
Tawfik incorporates science and medicine with thrilling adventure, both physical and psychological, and brings his readers on a wild ride through the reality of life in less settled places with young Egyptian doctor Alaa Abd Al-Azeem, as he deals with the horror and devastation of infectious disease and the effects of political turmoil.
(فانتازيا) Fantazia series
This series features Abeer Abdel Rahman, a woman who uses a device invented by her husband to immerses herself in various fictional and historical worlds. This series blends reality with fiction and allows Abeer to interact with famous characters and live through adventures she only knows from books.
(ما وراء الطبيعة) Paranormal series
Cynical hematologist Dr. Refaat Ismail encounters unexplainable supernatural occurrences and embarks on a series of adventures throughout Egypt and around the world. These stories blend science, horror, and humor as Refaat is forced to confront mysteries that cannot be explained by science.
Melissa Krawczyk is an American freelance Arabic-to-English translator. She has studied Arabic for nearly twenty years and is an avid reader of science fiction, fantasy, medical thrillers, and historical fiction but also reads scientific and medical papers for fun. She is currently translating the first book of Tawfik’s Safari series, The Epidemic, into English, and searching for an interested publisher. Please contact her for a sample translation at [email protected].
A note about translation rights:
Bears Factor Literary Agency recently confirmed by email that they are the current holder of all translation rights for Ahmed Khaled Tawfik’s work, with the exception of books published by Al Karma, which are handled by Al Karma. They brought out Tawfik’s final short story collection, رفقاء الليل (The Night’s Companions), which Tawfik wrote just before his death; you can find more of AKT’s books published by Karma on their website.
Translation rights are available for all three series, for all languages, and for Tawfik’s other works as well (with the exception of Utopia, which has been published in English, French, Italian, and German, and the Italian of The Devil’s Mirror.) Bassem ElKheshen is available at [email protected] for further discussion of rights information.
A special thank you to Muhammad Fadl, Foreign Rights Manager at Aser Al-Kotob Publishing ([email protected]) for connecting me with author Nawal Mostafa, who is also the editor and councilor for Rewayat Masreya. Thank you to Ahmed Salah Al-Madhi for pointing me to Bears Factor, which allowed me to share the rights information here.
