Abundance from the Desert provides a comprehensive introduction to classi­cal Arabic poetry, one of the richest of poetic traditions. Covering the pe­riod roughly from 500 c.e. to 1250 a.d., it features original translations and illuminating discussions of a number of major classical Arabic poems from a variety of genres. The poems are presented chronologically, each situated within a specific historical and literary context. Together, the selected...

The renowned writer describes coming of age during the violent Mexican Revolution and living as an openly homosexual man in a brutally machista society. Pillar of Salt is Novo's incomparable memoir of growing up during and after the Mexican Revolution, shuttling north to escape the Zapatistas, only to see his uncle murdered at home by the troops of Pancho Villa, and his initiations into literature and love with colorful, poignant, complicated men...

'There was a blue cast to Satjma's handsomely sculpted mesmerizing tale of earthbound witchery and celestial love." Fatma, an Arabian peasant girl, unwittingly embarks upon a strange journey of transformation the day her father marries her off to a snake handler. Unbeknownst to the new bride, her husband milks the venom of his snakes for use in potions he sells on the side. Bitten by one of the snakes, Fatma changes from naïve girl to sensuous woman....

The first anthology of its kind in the West, Contemporary Iraqi Fiction gathers work from sixteen Iraqi writers, all translated from Arabic into English. Shedding a bright light on the rich diversity Iraqi experience, Shakir Mustafa has included selections by Iraqi women, Iraqi Jews now living in Israel, and Christians and Muslims living both in Iraq and abroad. While each voice is distinct, they are united in writing about a homeland that has suffered...

Drawing on stories he heard as a boy from female relatives, Jilali El Koudia presents a cross-section of utterly bewitching narratives. Filled with ghouls and fools, kind magic and wicked, eternal bonds and earthly wishes, these are mesmerizing stories to be savored, studied, or simply treasured. Varied genres include anecdotes, legends, and animal fables, and some tales bear a strong resemblance to European counterparts, for example, Aamar and his...

Fanny, a 17-year-old high school senior, has lost both her parents in a car accident. Granted permission to live independently in the family home located on the outskirts of a small Norwegian town, the days pass by as she performs her daily routine: going to school, maintaining the house, chopping and stacking wood, and keeping the weeds at bay. As Fanny grieves and attempts to come to terms with the sad circumstances of her life, a fairy tale-like...

The celebrated and beloved fourteenth-century Persian poet Hafez continues to play an essential role in the lives of Iranians today. For centuries, scholars have studied his work, exploring both his life and his deeply moving poetry of love, spirituality, and protest. Yet, Shahrokh Meskoob is one of the first scholars to take an innovative approach to Hafez's poetry. Meskoob goes beyond a linguistic and rhetorical analysis of Hafez's poetry in the...

Set in late nineteenth-century Benghazi, Najwa Bin Shatwan's powerful novel tells the story of Atiqa, the daughter of a slave woman and her white master. We meet Atiqa as a grown woman, happily married with two children and working. When her cousin Ali unexpectedly enters her life, Atiqa learns the true identity of her parents, both long deceased, and slowly builds a friendship with Ali as they share stories of their past. We learn of Atiqa's childhood,...

"Staggering . . . [A] compulsively readable story of a man's reckoning with a history of violence [and] an essential work of Peruvian literature." ―Publishers Weekly, starred review A seemingly ordinary man named Ángel sells kitchenware at a store in Lima. In the early 1990s, he had served as a soldier, engaging in brutal acts whose aftermath still reverberates. Now he is forced to reckon with his past when a woman he was instructed to kill...

Shams al-Din Mohammad Hafez is in love. He is in love with a girl, with a city, and with Persian poetry. Despite his enmity with the new and dangerous city leader, the jealousy of his fellow court poets, and the competition for his beloved, Iran's favorite poet remains unbothered. When his wit and charm are not enough to keep him safe in Shiraz, his friends conspire to keep him out of trouble. But, their schemes are unsuccessful. Nothing will chase...