Mukhtar Shehata is a novelist and ethnographer from the Egyptian Delta whose work explores social change, class, gender resistance, and urbanism in rural Egypt. He has published more than 15 books in Arabic, including novels, short stories, and research papers, and his book Diary of an Arab in the Land of the Samba won the 2019 Ibn Battuta Award for Travel Literature. His Arabic-language book, Semi-Cities: From Village to Semi-City – Gender, Urbanism, and Class, was recently released by Sefsafa Publishing and Distribution in Cairo. The book explores social transformations in rural Egypt and the emergence of what Mukhtar calls “electronic masculinity,” a phenomenon that has led to increased surveillance and control over women within their homes and communities. This work is the result of nearly 13 years of research and was completed during his first year of residence with City of Asylum in Pittsburgh. Mukhtar graduated from the University of Bahia in Brazil and works as a Research Scholar in the Department of Languages, Cultures, and Applied Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University. He has been a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum Pittsburgh since August 2024.