Djinn's Apple

Djamila Morani is an Arabic-speaking Algerian novelist and a professor of Arabic language and literature. She writes fast-paced historical fiction set in the Abbasid period—the golden age of Baghdad. Djamila lives in Relizane, in the west of Algeria. Sawad Hussain is an Arabic-to-English translator whose work has been recognised by English PEN, the Anglo-Omani Society and the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, among others. She is a judge for the Palestine Book Awards and the 2023 National Translation Award. She has run translation workshops under the auspices of Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes, Shubbak Festival, the Yiddish Book Center, the British Library and the National Centre for Writing. Sawad has been selected to be the Princeton Translator in Residence in 2025.

"Djamila Morani’s The Djinn’s Apple takes place in Baghdad in the Abbasid period, during the rule of Harun Al-Rashid (786–809). Part crime novel, part historical fiction, The Djinn’s Apple follows gutsy Nardeen as she seeks to discover who wanted her father dead—and why. Djamila Morani is an Algerian writer who works as a teacher of Arabic language and literature. She is the author of The Djinn’s Apple and Crown of Sin."—Words Without Borders