Traces of Enayat

"The winners of Britain’s oldest literary awards (alongside the Hawthorndon Prize ) were announced in May. This year, for the first time, there were two winners of the biography prize. The first, Traces of Enayat , by Iman Mersal (translated into English by Robin Moger) is an intriguingly uncategorisable book—equal parts biography, memoir, and speculation—that artfully and movingly portrays the life of Enayat al-Zayyat, a largely forgotten Egyptian writer who died by suicide in 1963. “To trace someone,” Mersal writes, “is a dialogue that is perforce one-sided.” Despite great efforts, ultimate Mersal experiences “despair” over the impossibility of understanding the truth of al-Zayyat’s life. These “remnants,” explains the New Yorker , are “embroidered” with photographs and personal reflections, “leaving behind a seductive mystery.”"