Ahmed Naji: A Reading

Please join us for a reading from author and current City of Asylum Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute, Ahmed Naji. He will be introduced by UNLV MFA Candidate Xueyi Zhou.

Ahmed Naji is a writer from Egypt currently living in Las Vegas. In 2016, Ahmed was sentenced to two years for publishing his novel Using Life. His imprisonment marks the first time in modern Egypt that an author has been jailed for a work of literature. Among his works are more than six books, most of which have been translated into different languages. Ahmed has won several prizes and grants throughout his career, including the PEN/Barbey Freedom To Write Award, The Open Eye Award, and AFAC grants. His novel Using Life was also shortlisted for the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards. His recent English book, Rotten evidence: reading and writing in prison, will be published by McSweeney’s in September 2023.

For more about his work, please visit ahmednaji.net.

Parking/getting there: Parking on UNLV’s campus is free and open to all after 7pm; “reserved” parking spots are enforced 24 hours a day, but you may park in any “staff,” “student,” or paid spots. To find the Rogers Literature & Law Building, please turn onto East Harmon Ave and take it as far as you can into campus. We encourage you to park in Lot I or Lot J as they’re closest to our building.

Questions? Please email [email protected] or call (702) 895-5542.

This program is funded in part by a grant from Nevada Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.