Michael David Lukas (born March 30, 1979) is an American author best known for his internationally bestselling novel, The Oracle of Stamboul, published by HarperCollins^[1] and translated into over a dozen languages.^[2] Michael's second novel, The Last Watchman of Old Cairo, was published by Random House^[3] in 2018 and received the Sami Rohr Prize^[4] as well as the National Jewish Book Award.^[5] He teaches at San Francisco State University.^[6]

His writing has been published in The New York Times,^[7] Wall Street Journal,^[8] and the San Francisco Chronicle.^[9] He has been a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey^[2] and a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Tunisia.^[10] He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts,^[11] the Santa Maddalena Foundation,^[12] and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.^[13] Lukas has taught creative writing at 826 Valencia,^[14] The Writers' Studio at Stanford University,^[15] and the University of the Pacific.^[16]

Lukas was born in 1979 in Berkeley, California, where he grew up with his four younger siblings.

Moving East to attend Brown University,^[17] Lukas studied comparative literature and then received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the creative writing program at the University of Maryland.

He currently lives in Oakland with his wife Haley and daughters Mona and Amira.^[2]

• 2018: National Jewish Book Award for The Last Watchman of Old Cairo^[49]
• 2019: ALA's Sophie Brody Medal for The Last Watchman of Old Cairo^[50]
• 2019: Sami Rohr Prize for The Last Watchman of Old Cairo^[51]