{"title":"Abdellah Taia","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the poignant and lyrical world of Abdellah Taïa, one of Morocco's most celebrated contemporary voices. Delve into themes of identity, sexuality, and belonging in his deeply moving novels and films.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"another-morocco-book-abdellah-taia-9781584351948","title":"Another Morocco","description":"\u003cb\u003eTales of life in North Africa that flirt with strategies of revelation and concealment, by the first openly gay writer to be published in Morocco.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003eTangier is a possessed city, haunted by spirits of different faiths. When we have literature in our blood, in our souls, it's impossible not to be visited by them.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e-from \u003ci\u003eAnother Morocco\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn 2006, Abdellah Taia returned to his native Morocco to promote the Moroccan release of his second book, \u003ci\u003eLe rouge du tarbouche\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eThe Red of the Fez\u003c\/i\u003e). During this book tour, he was interviewed by a reporter for the French-Arab journal \u003ci\u003eTel Quel\u003c\/i\u003e, who was intrigued by the themes of homosexuality she saw in his writing. Taia, who had not publically come out and feared the repercussions for himself and his family of doing so in a country where homosexuality continues to be outlawed, nevertheless consented to the interview and subsequent profile, \"Homosexuel envers et contre tous\" (\"Homosexual against All Odds\"). This interview made him the first openly gay writer to be published in Morocco.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnother Morocco\u003c\/i\u003e collects short stories from Taia's first two books, \u003ci\u003eMon Maroc\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eMy Morocco\u003c\/i\u003e) and \u003ci\u003eLe rouge du tarbouche\u003c\/i\u003e, both published before this pivotal moment. In these stories, we see a young writer testing the porousness of boundaries, flirting with strategies of revelation and concealment. These are tales of life in a working-class Moroccan family, of a maturing writer's fraught relationship with language and community, and of the many cities and works that have inspired him.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith a reverence for the subaltern-for the strength of women and the disenfranchised-these stories speak of humanity and the construction of the self against forces that would invalidate its very existence. Taia's work is, necessarily, a political gesture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49560512069905,"sku":"GOR008495249","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49735014449425,"sku":"NGR9781584351948","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50484118421777,"sku":"CIN1584351942VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51693729382673,"sku":"CIN1584351942G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1584351942.jpg?v=1751441372"},{"product_id":"salvation-army-book-abdellah-taia-9781584350705","title":"Salvation Army","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn autobiographical coming-of-age novel by the the \"only gay man\" in Morocco.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003eAn autobiographical novel by turn naive and cunning, funny and moving, this most recent work by Moroccan expatriate Abdellah Taia is a major addition to the new French literature emerging from the North African Arabic diaspora. \u003ci\u003eSalvation Army\u003c\/i\u003e is a coming-of-age novel that tells the story of Taia's life with complete disclosure-from a childhood bound by family order and latent (homo)sexual tensions in the poor city of Sale, through an adolescence in Tangier charged by the young writer's attraction to his eldest brother, to a disappointing arrival in the Western world to study in Geneva in adulthood. In so doing, \u003ci\u003eSalvation Army\u003c\/i\u003e manages to burn through the author's first-person singularity to embody the complex melange of fear and desire projected by Arabs on Western culture. Recently hailed by his native country's press as \"the first Moroccan to have the courage to publicly assert his difference,\" Taia, through his calmly transgressive work, has \"outed\" himself as \"the only gay man\" in a country whose theocratic law still declares homosexuality a crime. The persistence of prejudices on all sides of the Mediterranean and Atlantic makes the translation of Taia's work both a literary and political event. The arrival of \u003ci\u003eSalvation Army\u003c\/i\u003e (published in French in 2006) in English will be welcomed by an American audience already familiar with a growing cadre of talented Arab writers working in French (including Muhammad Dib, Assia Djebar, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Abdelkebir Khatibi, and Katib Yasin).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49570016690449,"sku":"GOR005120640","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49732937187601,"sku":"NGR9781584350705","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50034581340433,"sku":"CIN1584350709G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51417455362321,"sku":"CIN1584350709VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1584350709.jpg?v=1750719971"},{"product_id":"country-for-dying-book-abdellah-taia-9781609809904","title":"A Country For Dying","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn exquisite novel of North Africans in Paris by \"one of the most original and necessary voices in world literature\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e WINNER OF THE 2021 PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Paris, Summer 2010.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Zahira is 40 years old, Moroccan, a prostitute, traumatized by her father's suicide decades prior, and in love with a man who no longer loves her.\u003cbr\u003e Zannouba, Zahira's friend and protege, formerly known as Aziz, prepares for gender confirmation surgery and reflects on the reoccuring trauma of loss, including the loss of her pre-transition male persona.\u003cbr\u003e Mojtaba is a gay Iranian revolutionary who, having fled to Paris, seeks refuge with Zahira for the month of Ramadan.\u003cbr\u003e Meanwhile, Allal, Zahira's first love back in Morocco, travels to Paris to find Zahira.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Through swirling, perpendicular narratives, \u003ci\u003eA Country for Dying\u003c\/i\u003e follows the inner lives of emigrants as they contend with the space between their dreams and their realities, a schism of a postcolonial world where, as Taia writes, \"So many people find themselves in the same situation. It is our destiny- To pay with our bodies for other people's future.\"","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49738302914833,"sku":"NGR9781609809904","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50412644696337,"sku":"CIN1609809904A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50931059753233,"sku":"CIN1609809904VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52107105075473,"sku":"CIN1609809904G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1609809904.jpg?v=1751246054"},{"product_id":"infidels-book-abdellah-taia-9781609808068","title":"Infidels","description":"Set in Sale, Morocco-the hometown Abdellah Taia fled but to which he returns again and again in his acclaimed fiction and films-\u003ci\u003eInfidels\u003c\/i\u003e follows the life of Jallal, the son of a prostitute witch doctor-\"a woman who knew men, humanity, better than anyone. In sex. Beyond sex.\" As a ten-year-old sidekick to his mother, Jallal spits in the face of her enemies both real and imagined.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The cast of characters that rush into their lives are unforgettable for their dreams of love and belonging that unravel in turn. Built as a series of monologues that are emotionally relentless-a mix of confession, heart's murmuring, and shouting match-the book follows Jallal out of boyhood on the path to Jihad. It's a path that surprises even him.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49935737913617,"sku":"GOR009010950","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50093970555153,"sku":"CIN1609808061G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50700956533009,"sku":"GOR014040023","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1609808061.jpg?v=1750960098"},{"product_id":"l-armee-du-salut-book-abdellah-taia-9782757837016","title":"L'armee du salut","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50262553002257,"sku":"GOR008555426","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50942627021073,"sku":"CIN275783701XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51713798897937,"sku":"CIN275783701XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/275783701X.jpg?v=1751189598"},{"product_id":"infidels-book-abdellah-taia-9781609806804","title":"Infidels","description":"Set in Sale, Morocco-the hometown Abdellah Taia fled but to which he returns again and again in his acclaimed fiction and films-\u003ci\u003eInfidels\u003c\/i\u003e follows the life of Jallal, the son of a prostitute witch doctor-\"a woman who knew men, humanity, better than anyone. In sex. Beyond sex.\" As a ten-year-old sidekick to his mother, Jallal spits in the face of her enemies both real and imagined.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The cast of characters that rush into their lives are unforgettable for their dreams of love and belonging that unravel in turn. Built as a series of monologues that are emotionally relentless-a mix of confession, heart's murmuring, and shouting match-the book follows Jallal out of boyhood on the path to Jihad. It's a path that surprises even him.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50385779032337,"sku":"CIN1609806808G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50385782604049,"sku":"CIN1609806808VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1609806808.jpg?v=1750830156"},{"product_id":"l-armee-du-salut-book-abdellah-taia-9782757808191","title":"L'armee du salut","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51079372112145,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51079374110993,"sku":"CIN2757808192G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/2757808192.jpg?v=1751382982"},{"product_id":"living-in-your-light-book-abdellah-taia-9781911710189","title":"Living in Your Light","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51295810846993,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51295812682001,"sku":"GOR014219393","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52111264317713,"sku":"NGR9781911710189","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1911710184.jpg?v=1751062140"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-abdellah-taia.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}