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About the Author

Hanan al-Shaykh, an award-winning journalist, novelist, and playwright, is the author of the short story collection I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops; the novels The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues, and Only in London; and a memoir about her mother, The Locust and the Bird. She was raised in Beirut, educated in Cairo, and lives in London.

Praise for One Thousand and One Nights: A Retelling…

“Bawdy, violent, spellbinding, and not for children, like all truly great fairy tales.”
—Flavorwire, “Must-Read for June”

“Elegant, pointed. . . . As Sir Richard Burton well knew, the tales that Shahrazad spun in order to keep from having her sultan husband chop off her head were full of erotic moments, explicit and implicit alike. Denatured into fables for children, the tales of Ali Baba, magical caves, flying carpets and Sindbad the sailor lost any such erotic possibilities, which al-Shaykh very gamely restores. . . . It would take an accomplished psychotherapist and dream interpreter to plumb the depths of what al-Shaykh reveals of the relations, as fraught as any in Faulkner, of cloistered women and fearful men. . . . A lovely book, and a wonderful revisiting of tales that, told once again, are meant to inspire—well, if not piety, at least more humane behavior toward our fellow adventurers.”
—Kirkus

“This new twist on The Arabian Nights by Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh, entitled One Thousand and One Nights, collects 19 of the ancient tales of lust, greed, and betrayal into one spellbinding narrative. As a young girl, al-Shaykh first heard this tantalizing tome dramatized on the radio but was forbidden to read it; later she became obsessed with the mythic storyteller Shahrazad, who invents these postcoital cliff-hangers to save her own skin. In the introduction, Mary Gaitskill calls the book ‘a fight between sacred and profane love.’ Sign us up.” 
—Oprah Magazine

“The Lebanese author Hanan al-Shaykh has recast several of Shahrazad's tales in modern English, presenting them in a coherent narrative that is as spellbinding as ever. . . . The age-old conundrum regarding literature's function—is it to tickle or to teach?—is solved here, and the answer is: both. You could make the case that the clever, resourceful Shahrazad is literature's first feminist heroine, and each of her stories is filled with nuggets of simple philosophy.” 
—Shelf Awareness

"Some journeys are eternal: Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh’s terrific update of One Thousand and One Nights [includes] a delightfully provocative introduction by Mary Gaitskill."
—Vogue.com

“Bawdy, violent, spellbinding, and not for children, like all truly great fairy tales.” —Flavorwire, “Must-Read for June”

“Elegant, pointed. . . . As Sir Richard Burton well knew, the tales that Scheherazade spun in order to keep from having her sultan husband chop off her head were full of erotic moments, explicit and implicit alike. Denatured into fables for children, the tales of Ali Baba, magical caves, flying carpets and Sindbad the sailor lost any such erotic possibilities, which al-Shaykh very gamely restores. . . . It would take an accomplished psychotherapist and dream interpreter to plumb the depths of what al-Shaykh reveals of the relations, as fraught as any in Faulkner, of cloistered women and fearful men. . . . A lovely book, and a wonderful revisiting of tales that, told once again, are meant to inspire—well, if not piety, at least more humane behavior toward our fellow adventurers.”
—Kirkus

“I’ve always been intrigued with Shahrazad’s storytelling, especially when I discovered that the real stories are not for children but instead are sexy, violent, unforgiving morality tales filled with intrigue, excitement, and wit, and beautifully rendered in this wonderful version. Who can resist a lewd demon’s lover whose mischief proves her declaration, “How great is the cunning of women!” 
—Louisa Ermelino, reviews director, Publishers Weekly, One of the Best Books of Summer
 
“Hilarious, horrifying, touching, enlightening, or revelatory, al-Shaykh’s versions of these ancient tales
remind us how story-cycles overwhelm limits of space or time or culture.”
—Mary Carroll, Booklist
 
“Before I knew it, I had finished half of them. Like Shahrazad’s captive king, I was hooked.”
—Molly Mcardle, Library Journal

“What a woman!!! What a storyteller!!!”
—Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis

“Al-Shaykh’s One Thousand and One Nights is a treasure-box of stories.”
 —The Independent (London)
 
“Magical. . . . Bursting with jinnis and mischief.”
—Donna Tartt, The Times (London)
 
“[F]or grown-ups interested in rediscovering the One Thousand and One Nights in all its bawdy, violent glory. It is captivating.”
—Daily Mail (London)
 
“[A]n uplifting read, precisely because [the stories] are so fantastical and transport the reader, by flying carpet, to lands filled with jinnis, princes and concubines, and also of people making contact across divides. Some of them are surprisingly erotic. Bedtime reading, for sure.”
—Time Out (London)
 
“Hanan Al-Shaykh’s vivid ‘reimagining’ of the One Thousand and One Nights is a treat and a trap for story lovers. Like a contemporary Shahrazad, Al-Shaykh has rendered nineteen little masterpieces into a wondrously warm, ribald and hilarious concoction, reminding us of how bang up to date these stories can be.”
—Hanif Kureishi, The Guardian (London)
 
“A brutal, bawdy, earthy and humorous narrative where the real world and the supernatural collide. . . .  Al-Shaykh’s stories are no less beguiling than their name suggests.”
—Metro (London)

“The book combines poetry and wit, whilst still being an erotic and brutal tale. Al-Shaykh is one of the Arab world’s most acclaimed writes.”
—Rebecca Lax, Lifestyle (North East)