Wrote a piece for The New York Review of Books about Tangiers, nostalgia, colonialism, and the thoroughly, purposely disreputable writer Mohamed Choukri. nybooks.com/articles/2025/…

Thank you very much, dear Vijay Prashad, for your generous words!

Throwing it back to the day I gave a talk at St Andrews University in Scotland. It was in 2012.

I’ve been involved with study abroad programs for over 20 years, collaborating with both governmental and academic institutions to launch programs overseas. It has been incredibly rewarding to witness firsthand the transformation participants undergo after spending time abroad

I'm deeply grateful to Marcia M and Ursula Lindsey for the important work they've been doing over the years. I recently had the pleasure of being featured on their excellent podcast, Bulaq, where we discussed the life and works of Mohamed Choukri. The conversation flew by,

I've known Roger Allen for over two decades, and I've learned so much from him and his scholarship over the years. I've been very fortunate to have him write forewords for my books. Yesterday I chatted with him for over an hour, and it was an insightful conversation where he

I am deeply grateful to my dear friend and colleague Brahim El Guabli for this brilliant review of Mohamed Choukri’s Wujūh (Faces) published in WorldLiteratureToday. El Guabli does not only offer a thoughtful analysis of Faces, but also eloquently engages with Choukri’s complex

I've often spoken about the complex relationship Choukri had with Tangier. Here's a passage that reflects it: "Even the night in Tangier, which–until the very recent past–had preserved some of its youthful and beautiful spirit, has now become old, flabby, ugly, and soaked in

This says it all!

You saw the photo in the earlier post. Here is a passage from Paul Bowles in Tangier: "Once I asked him [Choukri asking Bowles]: 'Why do you publish your books with thieving editors like Peter Owen?' 'Because I don't have a choice. I'm not living over there, and I can't control

The rest of the passage from Paul Bowles in Tangier: "This is the kind of rotten thing that Paul Bowles, the'wise man: says about me. But that's him all over. All hislife, he's never had anything but scorn for others - for thecharacters in his books just as much as for those who

Mohamed Choukri’s final visit to his birthplace: “In 1993 I visited Nador. I hadn’t been there for over half a century, since the mass exodus caused by the famine. The Elmas Association invited me to speak to an audience, and I read The first chapter of al-Khubz al-Hāfi. The

Merci Jonas Elbousty pour cette traduction de Visages, récit de M.Choukri,introuvable en français. J’ignorais qu’il était retourné dans son Rif natal. Dans cette émission touchante France Culture il a laissé entendre qu’il n’y avait jamais remis les pieds.🎧 radiofrance.fr/franceculture/…

Mohamed Choukri and his Tangier!

In some of the translation workshops I’ve led, I select a passage in Arabic and invite the group to explore it in multiple languages (languages they know). The discussions that follow are always fascinating. We reflect on how meaning shifts across languages and what gets lost,

French Translation " Nous marchons côte à côte. C'est plus fort que moi, quelque chose me pousse à tenter de percer son secret, de trouver l'énigme. Cette fois, il y a du vin chez lui. Il me fait visiter son atelier, me montre ses toiles. Il peint des fantômes et des squelettes

Spanish Translation "Caminamos. Algo que es más fuerte que yo me empuja a averiguar su secreto, a descubrir el enigma. Esta vez, hay vino en su casa. Me enseña el estudio y los lienzos. Pinta tantas-mas y esqueletos. Personajes sin carne ni sangre que caminan y se reúnen en las

English Translation "We walked. A compelling force pushed me to know his mysterious secret. I found wine at his place. He took me to the studio to show me his paintings. The people in his drawings were all ghosts and skeletons. Although they were not flesh and blood, they

As I revise my manuscript, I’ve been reflecting on the many conversations I’ve had over the years. I’ve given more than two dozen invited lectures on Mohamed Choukri in different institutions, and I’ve been invited to many podcasts to speak about Choukri’s works and life. I’m