"As I read Choukri's notes, I saw and heard Jean Genet as clearly as if I had been watching a film of him. To achieve such precision simply by reporting what happened and what was said, one must have a rare clarity of vision."--From William Burroughs' introduction to "Jean Genet in Tangier"

Tangier, "the most extraordinary and mysterious city in the world," according to Mohamed Choukri, was a haven for many Western writers in the early twentieth century. Paul Bowles, Jean Genet, and Tennessee Williams all spent time there, and all were befriended by Choukri.

Collected here together for the first time in English are Choukri's delightful recollections of these encounters, offering a truly fresh insight into the lives of these cult figures.

The sights and sounds of 1970s Tangier are brought vividly alive, as are the larger-than-life characters of these extraordinary men, through ordinary everyday events.

"'What Yacoubi would really like is a complete harem, ' I said."
"We laughed."
"'One handsome boy is enough for me, ' said Tennessee. 'A boy who just happens by.'"
"'So you don't want a harem?' I said."
"'No. Harems are always very tiring. They're no fun.'"

Mohamed Choukri (1935-2003) is one of North Africa's most controversial and widely read authors. After a childhood of poverty and petty crime, Choukri learned to read and write at the age of twenty. He then became a teacher and writer, finally being awarded the chair of Arabic literature at Ibn Batuta College in Tangier. His works include "For Bread Alone" and "Streetwise" (both available from Telegram).

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 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, and boys collect trash to sell for food.

Choukri says that “writing is a protest, not a parade.” And in these thirty-one stories he privileges the voices of those ignored by society: the abused, the abandoned, the addicted. The tales are at once vibrant local vignettes and profound reflections on the lives, sufferings, and hopes of Choukri’s fellow Tangerines.

Driven by famine from their home in the Rif, Mohamed's family walks to Tangiers in search of a better life. But things are no better there. Eight of Mohamed's siblings die of malnutrition and neglect, and one is killed by Mohamed's father in a fit of rage. On moving to another province Mohamed learns how to charm and steal, and discovers the joys of drugs, sex and alcohol. Proud, insolent and afraid of no-one, Mohamed returns to Tangiers, where he is caught up in the violence of the 1952 independence riots. During a short spell in a filthy Moroccan jail, a fellow inmate kindles Mohamed's life-altering love of literature. A cult classic, For Bread Alone is an astonishing tale of human resilience and an unflinching and searing portrait of the early life of one of the Arab world's most important and widely read authors.