Outside the Prison Walls

Abdelrahman Munif was a towering, transformative figure in Arabic literature. The author of more than 25 books, he was a public intellectual and an icon of principled opposition to authoritarian regimes. Today, Munif is one of the most-read novelists in the Arab world. Though he died in 2004, his oeuvre often feels startlingly contemporary, as if he wrote it yesterday.

Born and raised in Jordan, Munif spent much of his adulthood in Iraq, Egypt, and Syria--a lifetime of experience that sharpened his unique perspective on the social, political, and economic realities of the region.

Outside the Prison Walls is the first English language collection bringing together some of Munif's most enduring nonfiction writings with a series of interviews conducted in late 2003, shortly before his death. The essays and interviews take the reader on a journey, intertwining historical and current events in Iraq and the wider region, as well as politics and literature, with the personal story of one of the most important Arab novelists and intellectuals of our times.