Revered Egyptian novelist Alaa al-Aswany yesterday traveled to Italy to launch a book tour to market his January 25 Revolution book. The book was translated into Italian and published at the Feltrinelli Publishing House. Al-Aswany's Italian book tour will last two weeks. The tour will land in the Italian cities of Aruna, Naples, Bari and Rome. Al-Aswany will read sections from his latest book as well as excerpts from such articles as “Do We Deserve Democracy?” “Why Don't Egyptians Rise?” and “Egypt on the Reserve Bench.” Al-Aswany helped cultivate his superstar status by garnering many national and international awards, including: the 2005 Bashraheel Arabic Novel award, the 2005 Kafafi Award for Literary Genius (Greek government); the 2006 Grand Prix for Novels at the Festival of Toulon; the 2007 Culture Award from the Foundation of the Mediterranean in Naples; the 2007 Italian Grenzany Kafur Award for Novels in Torino; the 2008 Austrian Prime Minister Award; and the 2008 German Friedrich Rukirt Award, becoming the first novelist to receive this award. Al-Aswany also received the 2010 Achievement Award from the University of Chicago, his alma mater, and the 2011 Almagidy Bin Zahir Award for Arab Literature from the Foundation of Blomitroboles in Montreal, Canada. The Times, a British newspaper, chose al-Aswany as one of the most important novelists in the world. According to al-Arabeya, al-Aswany is the most prominent novelist in the Arab world. He was also named the 30th most important non-French novelist at the 2010 International Book Fair in Paris.
