The story of one man’s love for a woman, that woman’s love for her music and her country, and of an entire world’s love for its idols.

A poet and a singer, unrequited love and a troubled national history: these are the subjects of Sélim Nassib’s I Loved You for Your Voice. Inspired by the life and legacy of one of the world’s most beloved singers, the story of Om Kalthoum is told here through the eyes of Ahmad Rami, the poet who wrote her lyrics and loved her in vain all his life. Kalthoum, forced to disguise herself as a boy at the outset of her career, eventually rises to international fame and becomes a living symbol of her country’s rebirth. Spanning five decades, Kalthoum’s story intertwines with the history of Egypt in a novel that is as faithful as it is imaginative.

“A dazzling masterpiece.”—Nigrizia (Italy)

Sélim Nassib
Sélim Nassib was born in Beirut in 1946 and currently lives in Paris. Throughout the 1980s, during the war in Lebanon, he served as a correspondent for the French newspaper Liberation. He is also well known for his articles appearing in other high-profile periodicals. In 1990, he put an end to his career as journalist and has since dedicated himself full-time to literature. He is the author of The Palestinian Lover (Europa Editions, 2007) and I Loved You for Your Voice (Europa Editions, 2006).

• Oct 25 2006
  Aljadid: The creatively brilliant conversations feel so authentic that one has to remind oneself that this is fiction and not a documentary.
  
• Mar 20 2006
  Words Without Borders: "Om Kalthoum's life is the stuff of legend, and now it is a fine novel. In I Loved You for Your Voice, the Egyptian journalist Selim Nassib presents Om Kalthoum in the voice of Ahmed Rami, the poet who loved her in vain..."
  
• Dec 21 2005
  Kirkus Reviews (starred review): "In rapt, lyrical prose, Paris-based writer and journalist Nassib spins a rhapsodic narrative out of the indissoluble connection between two creative souls inextricably bound by their art."