James Sanua

James Sanua, born Yaqub Sanu in Cairo, was a journalist and playwright whose family was connected professionally to the royal family in Egypt. Sanua studied in Italy and then taught in Egypt. In 1877, Sanua founded the satiric journal Abou Naddara, and was consequently banished to France for his subversive writing. He continued to write in nonliterary Arabic, publishing the journal series Rehlat Abou Naddara Zar’a (Travels of the Man in the Blue Glasses from Egypt to Paris), which contained cartoons as well as prose.