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In a desperate attempt to save his mother and two sisters from famine and disease, a young man leaves his native village in Sudan and sets out alone to seek work in the city. This is the beginning of Hamza’s long journey. Hunger and destitution lead him ever farther from his home: first from Sudan to Egypt, where the lack of work forces him to join a band of smugglers, and finally from Egypt to Europe—Italy, France, Holland—where he experiences first-hand the harsh world of migrant laborers and the bitter realities of life as an illegal immigrant.
Tarek Eltayeb’s first novel offers an uncompromising depiction of poverty in both the developed and the developing world. With its simple yet elegant style, Cities without Palms tells of a tragic human life punctuated by moments of true joy.
“Once started it is difficult to put down. It is sensational, original, and altogether a magnificent literary debut.” —James Kirkup, Banipal
"The themes and style are reminiscent of Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, who is also attracted to exile and weaves many a story of young men on complicated and nostalgic journeys across East Africa and into Europe. The prose is poetic and immersive, which is no surprise given that Eltayeb is also an accomplished poet. Cities without Palms ends rather abruptly, but is followed by a sequel titled, The Palm House, flawlessly translated by the same translator, Kareem James Palmer-Zeid."—Bhakti Shringarpure, LitHub
“This tale told with skillful simplicity and without sentimentality should be read by anyone who wants to see what we are accustomed to hearing every day of famine and migration from the victim’s perspective.”—Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Tarek Eltayeb was born in Cairo in 1959, the son of Sudanese parents. Since 1984 he has lived in Austria, where he is currently a professor at the International Management Center of the University of Applied Sciences at Krems. He is the author of three novels as well as short stories and poetry.
Kareem James Abu-Zeid is the translator of Tarek Eltayeb’s The Palm House (AUC Press, 2011). He was runner-up in the 2010 Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation for his translation of Cities without Palms.