Mahmoud Elhalawany, born in Qalyubia in 1964, is an Egyptian poet and writer known for his critical writing in literature and theater. He has held several positions in the Egyptian Culture Ministry, including editor of the Ebdaat series at the General Authority for Cultural Palaces and editor-in-chief of the colloquial poetry series at the General Egyptian Book Organization. His poetry collections include Just Some Tatters (2005) and A Blind Man Reading His Book… Reimagined (2012). He has also published children's literature, including The Green Gate of Paradise (2008) and The Lantern: Rifaa al-Tahtawi (2016). His critical works include The Imagination of Necessity and Its References: Readings in Colloquial Poetry (2019), which won the Ahmed Fouad Negm Award for Critique of Colloquial Poetry in 2019.