This is a reading and signing with Ahmed Naji, Black Mountain Institute Fellow and Author Of Using Life and Rotten Evidence.
In February 2016, Ahmed Naji was sentenced to two years in prison for โviolating public modesty,โ after an excerpt of his novel Using Life reportedly caused a reader to experience heart palpitations. Naji ultimately served ten months of that sentence, in a group cell block in Cairoโs Tora Prison.
Rotten Evidence is a chronicle of those months. Through Najiโs writing, the world of Egyptian prison comes into vivid focus, with its cigarette-based economy, home-made chess sets, and well-groomed fixers. Najiโs storytelling is lively and uncompromising, filled with rare insights into both the mundane and grand questions he confronts.