Violet leaves

Khairy Shalaby's work is a unique literary phenomenon, having contributed dozens of distinguished titles to Arabic literature, both in quantity and quality. He possessed an unparalleled literary personality, excelling in various literary genres. He offered readers novels, short stories, essays, and portraits, and also distinguished himself in the field of oral storytelling. Khairy Shalaby speaks and writes incessantly about people, life, countries, neighborhoods, and alleyways with the same depth and vision he employs in his book criticism, theories of visual art, writing, and theater. The result is masterpieces like those we have compiled in this volume, which we have assembled from four books from Khairy Shalaby's rich library: *Queen's Food* (1995), *Youthful Bets* (1997), *Books and People* (2010), and *Violet Leaves* (2011).