Yehia Haqqi يحيى حقي was one of the pioneers رُوّاد of the modern Egyptian literature. As well as being an important writer, he was an expert خبير on the Arab culture. He is considered a landmark in the cinema and literature and is compared to Naguib Mahfouz نجيب محفوظ and Yusuf Idris يوسف ادريس . He spent most of his life as a civil servant until he rose to become adviser to the National Library of Egypt.
Yehia Haqqi was born on January 7th 1905 in the Sayyida Zeinab district of Cairo. He graduated in Law القانون in 1925 a nd worked for a short time as a lawyer مُحامى . In 1929, he began his career as a diplomat دبلوماسي and he worked abroad for more than 20 years. The time he spent in France فرنسا , Italy ايطاليا , Turkey تركيا and Libya ليبيا gave him experiences which he later used in his writings.
At the same time as he was working, Haqqi was writing stories. His first short story, published in 1925, established his name as one of the great short story writers of the Arab world. He wrote many articles مقالات and short stories and won many awards. From 1961 to 1971, he was editor of the literary magazine; Al-Majallah المجلة .
Haqqi always wanted to help poor and disabled people. He had to go to hospital after an earthquake زلزال in Cairo, but gave his bed to a poor person who he thought needed it more. In 1955, he wrote a collection of short stories about the poor الفقراء and the disabled المعاقين which won an important prize. Another of his stories; The Postman البوسطجى or ساعى البريد , was made into a film.
Haqqi wrote in a new way about the Arab society المجتمع and customs العادات in the twentieth century. He was also interested in the Arabic Language and he developed a new style أسلوب of writing which is still respected today.
As well as writing his own novels and stories, Haqqi also translated Russian, French, Italian and Turkish literature into Arabic. He was a very strong believer in the power قوة of education التعليم and supported many young Egyptian writers.
Haqqi died on December, 9th 1992, but is still thought of as the “Father of the Modern Short Story and Novel” in Egypt.
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