Roger Allen, 1942- , obtained a Phd from Oxford University in modern Arabic literature, the first student ever to do so. He served as a Professor of Arabic, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Pennsylvania until his retirement in 2011. He retired from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. He has authored and translated numberous books and articles on modern Arabic fiction, novels, and stories. His is perhaps best known for his The Arabic Literary Heritage: The Development of Its Genres and Criticism (Cambridge University Press, 1998). Between 1973 and 2010, Allen translated six works by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz into English, including Mirrors in 1999 with American University in Cairo Press. Mahfouz won the Nobel prize in Literature in 1988.