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Tales of Tangier: The Complete Short Stories of Mohamed Choukri
The complete short stories of acclaimed Moroccan author Mohamed Choukri, translated into English and collected in one volume for the first time
“Choukri is one of Morocco’s most revered figures. . . . To have his words translated is to have the privilege to view the inner world of his intellect and the obscured landscapes of Tangier.”—Noshin Bokth, The New Arab
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 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.
“Choukri is one of Morocco’s most revered figures. . . . To have his words translated is to have the privilege to view the inner world of his intellect and the obscured landscapes of Tangier.”—Noshin Bokth, The New Arab
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 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.
264 pages, Paperback
Published May 16, 2023
25 people are currently reading
340 people want to read
About the author
Mohamed Choukri
34 books503 followersمحمد شكري
Mohamed Choukri (Arabic: محمد شكري), born on July 15, 1935 and died on November 15, 2003, was a Moroccan author and novelist who is best known for his internationally acclaimed autobiography For Bread Alone (al-Khubz al-Hafi), which was described by the American playwright Tennessee Williams as 'A true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact'.
Choukri was born in 1935, in Ayt Chiker (Ayt Ciker, hence his adopted family name: Choukri / Cikri), a small village in the Rif mountains, in the Nador province. He was raised in a very poor family. He ran away from his tyrannical father and became a homeless child living in the poor neighborhoods of Tangier, surrounded by misery, prostitution, violence and drug abuse. At the age of 20, he decided to learn how to read and write and became later a schoolteacher. His family name "Choukri" is connected to the name Ayt Chiker which is the Berber tribe cluster he belonged to before fleeing hunger to Tangiers. It is most likely that he adopted this name later in Tangiers, because in the rural Rif family names were rarely registered.
In the 1960s, in the cosmopolitan Tangier, he met Paul Bowles, Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams. His first writing was published in 1966 (in Al-adab, monthly review of Beirut, a novel entitled Al-Unf ala al-shati (Violence on the Beach). International success came with the English translation of Al-khoubz Al-Hafi (For Bread Alone, Telegram Books) by Paul Bowles in 1973. The book was be translated to French by Tahar Ben Jelloun in 1980 (éditions Maspéro), published in Arabic in 1982 and censored in Morocco from 1983 to 2000. The book would later be translated into 30 other languages.
His main works are his autobiographic trilogy, beginning with For Bread Alone, followed by Zaman Al-Akhtaâ aw Al-Shouttar (Time of Mistakes or Streetwise, Telegram Books) and finally Faces. He also wrote collections of short stories in the 1960s/1970s (Majnoun Al-Ward, Madman of the roses, 1980; Al-Khaima, The Tent, 1985). Likewise, he is known for his accounts of his encounters with the writers Paul Bowles, Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams (Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams in Tangier, 1992, Jean Genet in Tangier, 1993, Jean Genet, suite and end, 1996, Paul Bowles: Le Reclus de Tanger, 1997). See also 'In Tangier', Telegram Books 2008 for all three in one volume.
Mohamed Choukri died on November 15, 2003 from cancer at the military hospital of Rabat and was buried at the Marshan cemetery in Tangier on November 17, with the audience of the Minister of Culture, numerous government officials, personalities and the spokesman of the King of Morocco. Before he died, Choukri created a foundation, Mohamed Choukri (president, Mohamed Achaâri), owning his copyrights, his manuscripts and personal writings.
Mohamed Choukri (Arabic: محمد شكري), born on July 15, 1935 and died on November 15, 2003, was a Moroccan author and novelist who is best known for his internationally acclaimed autobiography For Bread Alone (al-Khubz al-Hafi), which was described by the American playwright Tennessee Williams as 'A true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact'.
Choukri was born in 1935, in Ayt Chiker (Ayt Ciker, hence his adopted family name: Choukri / Cikri), a small village in the Rif mountains, in the Nador province. He was raised in a very poor family. He ran away from his tyrannical father and became a homeless child living in the poor neighborhoods of Tangier, surrounded by misery, prostitution, violence and drug abuse. At the age of 20, he decided to learn how to read and write and became later a schoolteacher. His family name "Choukri" is connected to the name Ayt Chiker which is the Berber tribe cluster he belonged to before fleeing hunger to Tangiers. It is most likely that he adopted this name later in Tangiers, because in the rural Rif family names were rarely registered.
In the 1960s, in the cosmopolitan Tangier, he met Paul Bowles, Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams. His first writing was published in 1966 (in Al-adab, monthly review of Beirut, a novel entitled Al-Unf ala al-shati (Violence on the Beach). International success came with the English translation of Al-khoubz Al-Hafi (For Bread Alone, Telegram Books) by Paul Bowles in 1973. The book was be translated to French by Tahar Ben Jelloun in 1980 (éditions Maspéro), published in Arabic in 1982 and censored in Morocco from 1983 to 2000. The book would later be translated into 30 other languages.
His main works are his autobiographic trilogy, beginning with For Bread Alone, followed by Zaman Al-Akhtaâ aw Al-Shouttar (Time of Mistakes or Streetwise, Telegram Books) and finally Faces. He also wrote collections of short stories in the 1960s/1970s (Majnoun Al-Ward, Madman of the roses, 1980; Al-Khaima, The Tent, 1985). Likewise, he is known for his accounts of his encounters with the writers Paul Bowles, Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams (Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams in Tangier, 1992, Jean Genet in Tangier, 1993, Jean Genet, suite and end, 1996, Paul Bowles: Le Reclus de Tanger, 1997). See also 'In Tangier', Telegram Books 2008 for all three in one volume.
Mohamed Choukri died on November 15, 2003 from cancer at the military hospital of Rabat and was buried at the Marshan cemetery in Tangier on November 17, with the audience of the Minister of Culture, numerous government officials, personalities and the spokesman of the King of Morocco. Before he died, Choukri created a foundation, Mohamed Choukri (president, Mohamed Achaâri), owning his copyrights, his manuscripts and personal writings.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 30, 2025
Biting incisions into life in Tangier—like picking figures from the city’s periphery and pulling them into focus. Fragmented narratives, dreamlike sequences, and intense, almost hallucinatory depictions of suffering evoke a surreal quality, though this is definitely a work of gritty realism. Choukri learned to read at age twenty, which is not a fact easily forgotten when reading these brutally vivid excavations of the city’s most obscured people.
May 4, 2023
Complete selection of Choukri’s short stories. Feels by turns modernist, bodily-realist, intellectual culture snapshot of Tangier in the 1970s era, very concerned with gender, class, and the role of the outsider/the madman/the observer/the writer.
January 10, 2024
raw, honest and alive. wow
January 4, 2026
Finishing this book on my last full day in Morocco while watching the Morocco v Tanzania AFCON game feels fitting🐱 thank you Lindsay for the read🤍
September 22, 2024
A fabulous introduction to Choukri's work. Jonas Elbousty's translation captures the raw directness of Choukri's style. I would recommend this translation to anyone who would like to read Choukri in English or to learn more about modern Moroccan literature. I also recommend the book to anyone planning a trip to Tangier. The book opens a fascinating window into life in Tangier in the 1960s and 70s.
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January 9, 2024Mohamed Choukri is one of North Africa's most esteemed, widely read and controversial authors. Now translated into English, Choukri's complete works uncover society's underbelly, revealing an entrancing, dark, and hedonistic imagination.
Read our review here: https://www.newarab.com/features/tale...
Read our review here: https://www.newarab.com/features/tale...
August 29, 2024
Disjointed and dreamlike, as though emerging from a sandstorm and encountering an oasis characterized by familiar colors and sounds and smells that nonetheless seem... off, somehow. A gritty, hazy, tender ode to Tangier.
September 24, 2024
This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. The translation is superb to say the least. This book should be on the list of world literature courses. If you want to know about Mohamed Choukri, Tangier, and North African literature, this is the book for you.
November 8, 2025
A really strong collection. Choukri is able to make Tangier feel crowded, noisy, smelly, scary, exciting. There is a lot of violence, and a lot of bodily functions, adding to the grubby and lived-in feeling of the stories.
July 10, 2023
It made me travel in time, to new places and feel and breath new smells and colours.
A great storyteller.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
A great storyteller.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
January 15, 2024
Traveling read. The way he writes is very modern. Each story feels completely different. And the Tangier he depicts is so chaotic yet somehow charming (in decadence)
January 23, 2024
2.5/5
Some short stories were actually really good, some confusing others pure shite xx mixed about the whole but in general it’s in the middle. So 2.5/5
Some short stories were actually really good, some confusing others pure shite xx mixed about the whole but in general it’s in the middle. So 2.5/5
May 29, 2024
Quite dark, but paints a strong picture of a place where missing people, prostitution, lost lives and cafe culture seem to be the only things happening in Morocco in the 60s.
July 26, 2025
really great insights into Moroccan culture. The authors story is in itself crazy and his voice is unique. Reminds me of bukowski.
Read in Tangier
Read in Tangier
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews