Muhammad El-Hajj

<A man with short curly dark hair, glasses, and a short beard looks past the camera in a black and white photograph.>

Muhammad El-Hajj (b. 1986) is a Cairo-based writer, editor, and translator. He is the author of the feature film Villa 69 (2013) and the TV series An-Nazwa (2022). His published literary works include two short story collections: Nobody Mourns the City’s Cats (2018) and On Masculinity: 2 Stories and a Coloring Book for Adult Males (2022). El-Hajj is the recipient of several awards and grants, including the Al-Mawred Literary Grant (2016), the AFAC Literary Grant (2019), and the Sawiris Foundation Award for Best Short Stories Collection (2019). His writings have appeared in various outlets, such as ArabLit, Catapult, the International Journal for Middle East Studies, and Mada Masr.

Reading List

Nocturnal Games

Muhammad El-Hajj  | 
Issue 75.1 Fall 2025

After she left the living room, he glanced at the wall clock. He had two hours to fulfill the mission before the dawn call to prayer.