December 28th, 2020
Ahmed Naji is an Egyptian journalist, writer, and criminal. At least that’s what the Egyptian government thinks of him. Naji didn’t think of himself as a “Writer” with the capital “W” until 2016, when he was sentenced to two years in prison for obscenity and disturbing public morality after excerpts of his novel, Using Life, were published in an Egyptian literary magazine.
Fast-forward to today, and Naji has recently published a memoir of his time in prison: Rotten Evidence: Reading and Writing in Prison. While already published in Arabic, English readers will have to wait a bit longer for the full translation. In the interim, several chapters from Rotten Evidence were recently translated to English and published in Michigan Quarterly Review. He’s currently a fellow with the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he lives with his family.
I met with Naji near his home in downtown Las Vegas. We discussed his time in prison, the similarities between the United States and Egypt (particularly within the countries’ respective police forces), and the value of reading no matter where you are.
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The Rumpus: It’s 2020, and this year has been a rollercoaster. What is the value of reading and writing in today’s age?
Read the Whole interview here: https://therumpus.net/2020/12/the-rumpus-interview-with-ahmed-naji/?fbclid=IwAR3Wm9aIpyR3vTAeQoSWFXJX4qBMr8F7y4wBt43HSIwuUxBB9qPYYG5XqYU
Ahmed Naji 