1928 – 2015
Abdeltawab Youssef
عبد التواب يوسف
The dean of children’s literature in Egypt and the Arab world
He wrote more than 1,000 books, most of them for children, and is remembered in Arabic as “the man of a thousand titles”. Generations of young readers across Egypt and the Arab world grew up with them.
His stature
- 1,000+books, most of them for children
- 25million copies of his books printed
- 7million copies of The Life of Muhammad in Twenty Stories
- 65years writing for children
“Many write for children, but only a few have produced real literature, and Abdeltawab Youssef is at their forefront, in quantity and in quality.”
The King Faisal Prize calls him “the doyen of children’s writers”.
The teacher’s son
The son of a village teacher who held that teaching “is not a job, a profession or a trade, but a mission and a life”, he studied political science at Cairo University and then gave his life to children: as a writer, as a broadcaster, and as founder of the Society for Children’s Culture.
- 1928Born in the village of Shenra, Beni Suef
- 1950His first radio broadcast, on Baba Sharo
- 1968Founded the Society for Children’s Culture; published The Scarecrow
- 1975State Prize for Children’s Literature; began writing full time
- 1991King Faisal International Prize
- 2015Died in Cairo on 28 September
From his books
Browse the full catalogue- The Scarecrow1971
- My Father: An Egyptian Teacher1976
- Umm Hanan: A Novel for Young Readers about the October War1987
- My Heart, My Mind and My Pen: An Autobiography1990
- The Audacious Skipper1993
- Green Toshka1998
- Sea War2001
- Hamza's Hamza2004
- The Prophet's Birthday through Andersen's Eyes2009
- The Scarecrow’s Party1971
- The Noble Nile1993
- The Water Pump2005
- The Life of Muhammad in Twenty Stories2005
- Al-Hassan Ibn Al-Haytham Meets Isaac Newton1993
“Of all my teachers there remain the greatest in standing, influence and rank. I mean ‘the children’.”
Honours
The complete record- 1975State Prize for Children's LiteratureEgyptian State (Supreme Council of Culture)
- 1981State Prize for Children's Culture, with the Order of the RepublicEgyptian State (Supreme Council of Culture); President of Egypt
- 1991King Faisal International Prize for Arabic Language and Literature (Children's Literature)King Faisal Prize (King Faisal Foundation)
- 2000New Horizons Award, Bologna Children's Book FairBologna Children's Book Fair (BolognaRagazzi, New Horizons category)
- 2000IBBY Honour List 2000 (Writing): the Toshka seriesInternational Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), Basel
- 2007Nominated by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (three consecutive years)Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), Sweden
Tributes
All tributes“I say ‘Abdeltawab Youssef’, stripped of titles, because his name alone is loftier than any title. In knowledge he was a university, in literature a school, and as a human being, there is no end to what could be said.”
“The master of children's literature in Arabic par excellence.”
“I believe his distinction was that when Abdeltawab wrote for children, he was addressing adults too.”
From the album
All photographs
The digital library
We are preparing a digital library of his books, for children everywhere to read, in Arabic and English.
Coming soon