For Bread Alone

Mohamed Choukri is one of North Africa's most controversial and widely read authors. At the age of twenty he decided to learn to read and write classical Arabic. He went on to become a teacher and writer, finally being awarded the chair of Arabic Literature at Ibn Batuta College in Tangier. Paul Bowles, perhaps best known for his novel The Sheltering Sky, collaborated closely with Choukri on the translation of For Bread Alone. The story of Choukri's life is continued in Streetwise.

'The illiterate remembers everything. It seems almost a stroke of good luck that Choukri's encounter with the written word should have come so late. As a writer, he is in an enviable position, though he paid a high price for it in suffering.' Paul Bowles 'A true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact.' Tennessee Williams 'A book to read, cherish and remember - and to show us again why we need books as well as bread.' Morning Star; '[An] extraordinarily vivid, uncensored immediacy ... Using only undemonstrative prose, and asking for no special sympathy, Choukri conveys the experience of struggling to survive in a harsh world of dusty streets and unforgiving sunlight.' Nicolas Clee, Guardian; 'Five stars ... Achingly elegant ... Choukri's irrepressible, ultimately indomitable spirit is most touching and human.' Independent; 'Richly descriptive and engaging ... An enjoyable and worthwhile read.' Socialist Review