Khairy Shalaby (Arabic: خيري شلبي, romanized: Khayrī Shalabī; January 31, 1938 – 9 September 2011)[1][2] was an Egyptian novelist and writer.

He wrote some 70 books, including twenty novels, critical studies, historical tales, plays and short story collections.

[1][3] Khairy is widely regarded as having written novels “of the Egyptian street.”[2] Adam Talib, who translated The Hashish Waiter, said of Shalaby’s prose: Shalaby's The Lodging House won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2003.

[1] The Lodging House was listed by the Arab Writers Union as one of the “top 105” books of the last century.

[4] Istasia was longlisted for the 2010 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.