About his book, the author writes: “The novel is a meditation on ethics, politics and aesthetics” that appeals to all the senses -writes the author-. Adding, how can we turn our lives into works of art while maintaining a fair and decent place among our fellow human beings? What is meant by the idea of giving oneself a style? What do heroes risk in the age of humans? Is charisma compatible with democracy? The author continues: “Cleopatra's Beauty raises and analyses all these questions, drawing on Nietzsche, Kant, Vico, Louis Armstrong, Botticelli's paintings and Roman history as seen by the Bard of Stratford”.

Mustapha Fahmi is a Shakespeare specialist of international renown and has given lectures all over the world. He is the author of several books and three poetry collections. They include Shakespeare's Poetic Wisdom, The Purpose of Playing, Dwelling in the Forest of Arden, and La leçon de Rosalinde (best book in its category at the 54th Salon du livre du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, 2018).

On the academic level, he has been nominated for the Quebec Universities Network Award of Excellence (2008 and 2012). He received the 2019 Literary Distinction Award from the Salon du livre du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. The Beauty of Cleopatra is his third novel.

Born in Casablanca, Mustapha Fahmi is a professor of English literature at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, where he was Vice-Rector from 2012 to 2017.