Hanan al-Shaykh Books & Biography

Hanan al-Shaykh is one of the most acclaimed writers in
the contemporary Arab world. She is the author of seven
novels, including The Story of Zahra, Women of Sand &
Myrrh, Beirut Blues, Only in London, as well as a collection
of stories, I Sweep the Sun off Rooftops, and her much
praised memoir of her mother’s life: The Locust and the
Bird. She has written two plays, Dark Afternoon Tea and
Paper Husband, and published One Thousand and One
Nights, an adaptation of some of the stories from the
legendary Alf Layla Wa Layla – the Arabian Nights. Her
new novel, The Occasional Virgin, will be published by Bloomsbury in June 2018. Her work has been translated
into twenty-eight languages. She lives in London.