Egyptian Literature

        Egyptian literature traces its beginnings to ancient Egypt and is some of the earliest known literature. Indeed, the Egyptians were the first culture to develop literature as we know it today, that is, the book.
       In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Arab world experienced a al-Nahda, a Renaissance-esque movement which touched nearly all areas of life, including literature. One of the most important figures from this time was Naguib Mahfouz, the first Egyptian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1914 Muhammad Husayn Haykal wrote Zaynab, considered the first modern Egyptian as well as Islamic novel.