M.M. Tawfik was born in Cairo, Egypt. He holds degrees in engineering (Cairo University), international law (Universite de Paris XI), diplomacy (Egyptian Institute of Diplomatic Studies), and international relations (Institut International d’ Administration Publique, Paris). He has pursued careers in engineering, diplomacy and writing that have taken him to numerous countries in Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania, and produced diverse literary works that provide “a seamless blend of the personal and political, whether in terms of dreams or disillusionment.”
A career diplomat from 1983 to 2016, he took part in numerous negotiations and conferences in the fields of disarmament, labor, and human rights. From September 2012 to August 2015, a period of profound transformation for his country and region, Mohamed Tawfik served as Egypt’s Ambassador to the United States. Since then, he has dedicated all his time to writing.
A member of the Egyptian Writers Union, Pen International, the Geneva Writers Group, and ACT Writers of Australia, he has conducted creative writing workshops (online since 1999, and at the Misr Public Library in Giza since 2016). He is literary editor of arabworldbooks.com.
His latest novel, The Scorpion’s Whisper, (Dar Alain, 2021) is a fictionalized account of a historical expedition led by Ahmed Hassanein (who would later become royal chamberlain) and British explorer Rosita Forbes to the mysterious oasis of Kufra in 1920.
Tawfik has published in Arabic three volumes of stories, The White Butterflies (Egyptian General Book Authority, 1995), Till the Break of Dawn, and Agamyste (Dar Alfikr Alaraby, both in 1997). An English translation of selected stories from the three volumes was published in Egypt titled The Day the Moon Fell (Dar Alfikr Alaraby, 1998). He is, perhaps, best known for his trilogy: A Night in the Life of Abdel-Tawab Tutu (Dar Alfikr Alaraby,1996 – Dar Althakafa Algadida, 2018), A Naughty Boy Called Antar (Dar Merit, 2003), and candygirl (Aldar Almasria Allebnania 2010). Together, they form an epic work that follows Egypt’s political and social evolution through the twentieth century and the first years of the twenty-first.
The last two novels were translated by the author. The first was published in English by AUC Press in 2008 as Murder in the Tower of Happiness and Arabia Books, London, in 2009, under the same title. Candygirl was also published by AUC Press in 2012.
Candygirl was selected by the American University in Cairo for the inaugural launch of the ‘One Book, One Conversation, One community’ initiative to be read by all incoming freshmen throughout the academic year 2014-15. “Set in a world of avatars and espionage, candygirl was chosen by a committee made up of students, faculty members and administrators because of its potential in engaging the AUC community in inquisition and thought-provoking discussion, with its blend of science fiction and thriller,” is how the AUC describes their selection. During that year, students engaged in a busy schedule of cocurricular activities, presentations and events that have been scheduled surrounding the book.
Being one of the few Egyptian writers who self-translates his work into English, he contributed an essay to the volume titled In the Shoes of the Other; Interdisciplinary Essays in Translation Studies from Cairo edited by Samia Mehrez. In this essay, he outlines his views on the challenges of translation, and the influence of language on the creative process.
True to Egyptian tradition, Tawfik is primarily concerned with the recording of unofficial history. He seeks to depict people’s lives as they get hopelessly entangled in history’s relentless crawl. He tells a story filled with humor and sensuality. For him, there is no foe deadlier than mediocrity.
