Snow in Amman

Filled with deeply nuanced storytelling and vividly drawn, often heartbreaking human characters, Snow in Amman: An Anthology of Short Stories From Jordan is a rich selection of contemporary Jordanian fiction which stands in stark contrast to many of the prevailing stereotypes of Arabic culture. Outside the archaeological lens, very little is known about life in Jordan, particularly in the English-speaking world. Such lack makes it more susceptible to falling into the soup of widespread generalizations about the Middle East. The 11 stories in Snow in Amman, published in their original Arabic in Jordan and appearing in this book for the first time in English, depict a wide array of social and feminist issues through a lens at once familiar and surprising, commonplace and yet intensely different.

About the Translators

Ibtihal Mahmood is a Jordanian translator, journalist and poet. Her work has appeared in many international anthologies including the Premio Mondiale Poesia Nosside. Mahmood is one of the contributors at The Seattle Globalist and the chairperson of the Arabic Division of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA). She is also a member of the American Translators Association (ATA) and the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA).

Alexander Haddad is an American poet, writer and editor. He is the founder and former executive director of Old Growth Northwest, a community and advocacy organization for poets and writers living in the Pacific Northwest. Haddad has received many awards for his writing. These include the 2009 Mary Catherine Mita Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis and a National Silver Medal in Nonfiction by the New York Times / Alliance for Arts & Writing.