Background
He was born in 1967/68 in a Bedouin village in the Fayoum region.
He was born in 1967/68 in a Bedouin village in the Fayoum region.
His ancestors arrived from Libya in the early 19th century to settle in Fayoum. Abu Golayyel migrated to Cairo in the early 1980s, and worked as a construction labourer on building sites. These experiences later provided material for his literary endeavours.
His first book was a collection of short stories published in 1997 under the title Swarm of Bees.
He received further acclaim with his novel Thieves in Retirement, originally published by Merit Publishing House in Cairo, and later by Syracuse University Press in an English translation by Marilyn Booth. An English translation by Robin Moger has been released by the AUC Press.
He is regarded as one of the most important new voices in Egyptian fiction. Abu Golayyel works in folklore research under the aegis of the Egyptian ministry of culture.
He also contributes regularly to an Emirati newspaper.