Title: Damascus Nights
Author: Rafik Schami
Publisher: Interlink Pub Group
ISBN: 978-1566568319
Pages: 264
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis
A reissue of Rafik Schami’s award-winning novel
Upon this enchanting frame of tales told in the fragrant Arabian night, the words of the past grow fainter, as ancient customs are yielding to modern turmoil. While the hairdresser, the teacher, the wife of the locksmith sip their tea and pass the water pipe, they swap stories about the magical and the mundane: about djinnis and princesses, about contemporary politics and the difficulties of bargaining in a New York department store. And as one tale leads to another… and another… all of Damascus appears before your eyes, along with a vision of storytelling-and talk-as the essence of friendship, of community, of life.
A sly and graceful work, a delight to readers young and old, Damascus Nights is, according to Publishers Weekly, “a highly atmospheric, pungent narrative.”
Read Author Spotlight
Born in Syria in 1946, Schami is the son of a baker from a Syriac-Christian family. His family originated from the town of Maaloula. After attending a monastery boarding school in Lebanon, he studied chemistry, mathematics, and physics in Damascus. In 1970, left Syria for Lebanon to evade censorship and the military draft; the following year, he moved to Germany. There, Schami continued his studies in chemistry while working odd jobs, obtaining a doctorate in 1979.
From 1965, Schami began writing stories in Arabic. From 1964-70 he was the co-founder and editor of the wall news-sheet Al-Muntalak (The Starting-Point) in the old quarter of Damascus. Later in Germany, in his spare time, he co-founded the literary group Südwind in 1980 and was part of the PoLiKunst movement. Schami became a full-time author in 1982. He currently lives in the city of Kirchheimbolanden with his Bavarian wife and son and he holds dual citizenship. Schami’s books have been translated into 29 languages.
