Judge by day, novelist by night: How Ashraf Elashmawy found compassion through fiction
One of the stranger cases Ashraf Elashmawy investigated during his legal career involved a missing bird. It was 1990, and the young Egyptian prosecutor was assigned a case involving a peacock stolen from Cairo Zoo. “The bird was actually taken home by the zoo guard, slaughtered by his wife and served with molokhia, a traditional Egyptian dish,” Elashmawy recalls. The incident later found its way…
Ashraf Elashmawy, a judge by day and novelist by night, has found compassion through his fiction. His background in criminal law has given him a unique perspective on Egyptian society, where everyday occurrences can be stranger than fiction. Elashmawy's novel, The House of the Coptic Woman, and its sequel Births in the Zoo, explore absurd realism by depicting the absurdities of reality through satire and dark humor.
His experiences as a judge have influenced his writing, enabling him to approach people with understanding and mercy. One of his most notable books, Births in the Zoo, was inspired by a true event: a man born in Cairo Zoo in 1951, who still bears the zoo as his birthplace on his birth certificate. Elashmawy's win at the Sheikh Zayed Book Award has opened doors to publishing opportunities and international recognition, but he remains humble, considering himself an amateur writer.
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