Hesham Yahya: key obituary facts
Is Hesham Yahya dead? Yes. Hesham Yahya died on October 5, 2026, at age 63.
Cause of death: Hesham Yahya's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Hesham Yahya known for?
Hesham Yahya was an Egyptian journalist and novelist.
Hesham Yahya, an Egyptian journalist, novelist and screenwriter, died October 5, 2026, aged 63.
His career joined newspaper journalism and literary writing, and also included television program preparation and screenwriting. He worked for several Egyptian publications, among them Akhbar al-Youm, Al-Ahrar, Al-Wafd and Al-Haqiqa, and participated in founding the first edition of Al-Dustour.
In arts journalism, he became a prominent figure in criticism and the documentation of artistic history, with work spanning Egyptian and Arab contexts. Yahya’s novel, “Qabd al-Reeh: Ayam wa Rahat” (“The Grip of the Wind: Days Gone By”), revisited stories and people drawn from his long experience in journalistic and cultural circles. The book brought material from that professional world into fiction, alongside his work as a journalist and critic. His screenwriting credits included the films “Al-Dassas” and “Sa’at Reda.” His work thus extended from newspaper and cultural writing to a novel based on experiences in those circles, as well as television programming and cinema.