Ahmed Naji (born 15 September 1985) (Arabic: أحمد ناجي) is an Egyptian journalist and literary novelist.

He has written numerous journalistic and critical articles and several books, including The Use of Life (2014), which resulted in his being jailed in Egypt in 2016 for "violating public modesty," due to its sexual content and drug references, marking the first time in modern Egypt that an author has been jailed for a work of literature.

He moved to Washington, D.C. with his wife, and was a City of Asylum Fellow at the UNLV Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 2019 to 2023.

Naji has published four books: Rogers (2007), Seven Lessons Learned from Ahmed Makky (2009), The Use of Life (2014), and Rotten Evidence: Reading and Writing in an Egyptian Prison (2023).

His work is considered controversial, particularly for Egyptian social and political contexts, and is seen by some as pushing against conservative cultural boundaries.

After his spending years in and out of court, Naji's remaining jail time was replaced by a fine and his travel ban was lifted in July 2018.

[3] Naji is known for writing criticism exploring trends in Egyptian pop culture, beginning with his blogs in the early 2000s.