Alaa Al Aswany's novel The Yacoubian Building is now a hit film
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In a Hardtalk Extra programme broadcast on Friday 23rd February, Gavin Esler spoke to the Middle East's most successful, and controversial, novelist.
Alaa Al Aswany is currently the best-selling novelist writing in Arabic.
He's fast making a name for himself internationally, thanks to his acclaimed novel, The Yacoubian Building.
His controversial book aims to get right to the heart of his native Egypt, with its tales of corruption, sex, homosexuality and Islamic terror.
Gavin Esler asks him how dangerous it has been to criticize the regime in his own country and whether he could ever give up his day job, as a Cairo dentist.
HARDtalk Extra can be seen on BBC World at 0330 GMT, 0830 GMT, 1430 GMT, and 1830 GMT.
It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 04:30 and 23:30.
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