Abu Nuwas

The biographical novel Abu Nuwas is like a skilfully woven magic carpet transporting us to the age of the Arabian Nights Entertainments which many of us very well remember from our childhood. A lucky reader of this book will find oneself keeping company to poet Abu Nuwas, the lead character of the novel, while he is visiting the reception hosted by the legendary caliph Harun al-Rashid, listening to a contest of the most famous poets, sharing shelter with Bedouins and wandering through the streets of night Bagdad, full of dangers and temptations.

This novel has been waiting for its time in the family archive of B.Ya. Shidfar (1928–1993) — the famous scholar specialising in Arabic studies, translator of the poetry written by Abu Nuwas and many other Arabic poets.