Mohamed Kheir is a poet, fiction writer, editor, and lyricist born in Cairo, Egypt in 1978. He won the Egyptian Ministry of Culture Award for his first poetry collection Leil Khargi, and both of his story collections—Afarit Al Radio and Remsh Al Ein—received the Sawiris Cultural Award. Kheir’s poems and short stories have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, and Bengali. His novel Slipping (Iflat al-Asabea) was translated into English by Robin Moger and won the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. His most recent novel, Sleep Phase, was also translated into English by Robin Moger and was Longlisted in the National Book Award for Translated Literature. Alongside his literary work, Kheir also writes lyrics for young singers from Egypt and Lebanon.

(Photo credit: Krystyna Dabrowska)