"This guide provides resources for some 150 Arab writers and works, covering the first known works of Arabic literature from the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. to present day. In addition to literary authors, writers from the fields of history, geography, and philosophy are represented. Among those included are Najib Mahfuz, the 1988 Nobel laureate; Nawal Sa'dawi, Egyptian physician and leading female literary author in the Arab world; Abu al-Ala' al-Ma'arri, the 11th-century poet whose verses are taught to every Arab schoolchild; and Avicenna, the great physician and philosopher whose work on medicine was long the standard in the Middle East and Europe. Entries are also included for the anonymous stories so common in Arabic literature, such as The Arabian Nights."--BOOK JACKET.