Ibrahim al Moallem was born in Cairo in 1945, the son of a respected publisher who was the founder of the publishing house Dar Al Shorouk. After his father’s death in 1995, Ibrahim al Moallem inherited his father’s business and quickly turned it into one of the region’s major publishers. He has served as president of both the Egyptian and Arab Publishers Unions and as an advisor to UNESCO’s board of publishers, and continues to be one of the most well-known figures in the Arab book industry. He holds a degree from Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering.