Jonathan Wright

Jonathan Wright is a British literary translator who has translated more than a dozen Arabic novels and short-story collections into English since 2008, including three winners of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. He has won the Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation twice.

Publications

Jokes for the Gunmen

Mazen Maarouf

Translated by Jonathan Wright

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2019

A brilliant collection of fictions in the vein of Roald Dahl, Etgar Keret and Amy Hempel. These are stories of what the world looks like from a child’s pure but sometimes vengeful or muddled perspective. These are stories of life in a war zone, life peppered by surreal mistakes, tragic accidents and painful encounters. These are stories of fantasist matadors, lost limbs and perplexed voyeurs. This is a collection about sex, death and the all-important skill of making life into a joke. These are unexpected stories by a very fresh voice. These stories are unforgettable.