TEHRAN – Takween, a major Kuwaiti publisher, has recently released an Arabic translation of the Persian novel “Prison for the Criminals” written by Kayhan Khanjani.

The book was originally published by the Persian publishing company Cheshmeh in 2018 and soon became a bestseller.

It has been rendered into Arabic by prominent Arab translator Ahmad Heidari who has translated several other books by Iranian writers including Sadeq Hedayat’s “Isfahan, Half of the World” and Bozorg Alavi’s “Her Eyes”.

In a press release published last week, Khanjani said that Heidari spent about two years translating his book.

“He was in contact with me and we discussed Persian terms used in the books, and in the end, it was edited by three editors from different Arab countries to make the novel understandable to all Arabic speakers around the world,” he stated.

“I’m really happy that a prominent translator and a prominent publisher in the Arab world have worked together on my book,” he added.

Khanjani said that despite the global sanctions on Iran, the publisher has acquired the book's rights.

The novel is about a criminal and junky named “Zapata”, who tells stories to the prisoners, and, in exchange, they give him drugs. In this book, he begins to tell the story of a woman who was transferred into the men’s prison. In parallel with the story, the stories of 15 other prisoners are also narrated.     

Photo: Cover of the Arabic version of Iranian writer Kayhan Khanjani’s novel “Prison for the Criminals”.

MMS/YAW