Tales of Tangier The Complete Short Stories of Mohamed Choukri

The complete short stories of acclaimed Moroccan author Mohamed Choukri, translated into English and collected in one volume for the first time Mohamed Choukri's vivid stories invite the reader to wander the winding streets of Tangier, the ancient coastal crossroads between Europe and Africa, and to meet its denizens at markets, beaches, cafés, and brothels. Choukri's Tangier is a place where newborns are for sale, swindlers hawk the Prophet's shoes to tourists, and boys collect trash to sell for food. These thirty-one stories, in one English collection for the first time, are translated in a simple, straightforward manner. Choukri privileges the voices of those ignored by society: alcoholics and addicts, the mentally ill and the physically disabled, abused single mothers and abandoned orphans. He could not write about the "milk of birds" or of "angelic beauty," Choukri said. "Writing is a protest, not a parade." Bursting with intensity and conjuring daily life in stunning detail, these stories are at once vibrant local vignettes and profound reflections on the lives, sufferings, and hopes of Choukri's fellow Tangerines.