“Orient Tavern” & “The Hungarian Hut”—fantasy by Azher Jirjees
“Orient Tavern” and “The Hungarian Hut,” from Azher Jirjees’ collection, explore post-2003 Iraqi struggles.
Azher Jirjees
Azher Jirjees is an Iraqi novelist who has worked as a journalist in Iraq since 2003. He is the author of four novels, Wadi al-farashat [Butterfly Valley] (Beirut: Al-Rafidayn, 2024 and Tunis: Meskiliani Publishing), Al-Nawm fi haql al-karaz [Sleeping in the Strawberry Field] (Beirut: Al-Rafidayn, 2019) long-listed for the 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF, and Hajar al-sa‘āda [The Stone of Happiness] (Beirut: Al-Rafidayn, 2022), which made the 2023 IPAF shortlist.The publication of his satirical book, Al-Jahīm al-ardhī [Hell on Earth] (Baghdad: Warda Publishing, 2005) subjected him to an assassination attempt by extremist groups that forced him to flee Iraq. From Damascus he went to Casablanca before arriving at his final refuge in Norway, where he currently resides and works as a freelance translator.
Yasmeen Hanoosh is a fiction writer, literary translator, and professor of Arabic at Portland State University. Her books include Beyond Refuge in Arab Detroit (co-editor, Wayne State University Press, 2024), The Chaldeans: Politics and Identity in Iraq and the American Diaspora (author, I.B. Tauris, 2019), Ardh al-Khayrat al-Mal’unah (author, The Land of Cursed Riches, al-Dar al-Ahliyyah 2019), Closing His Eyes (translator, Moment Books, 2011), Scattered Crumbs (translator, Arkansas University Press, 2002).