Interview with longlisted author Azher Jirjees

How did you feel about reaching the longlist for the third time?

I was delighted. Being nominated for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and for the third time, is a great honour and a boost to my self-confidence. It spurs me on to continue to develop my work and look for new creative horizons. 

When did you begin writing The Valley of the Butterflies and where did the inspiration for it come from?

After finishing my novel The Stone of Happiness and submitting it for publication, I started afresh completely and began to make notes about an idea which had been in my mind for a long time. It was an idea for a novel about an unlucky archivist who is fired from his job and becomes a funeral driver, carrying the bodies of foundlings tossed beside the road and left on rubbish dumps, to bury them in a secret cemetery that will later be called the ‘Valley of the Butterflies’.

Did the novel take long to write, and where were you when you finished it?

The actual writing took about two and a half years. But the idea was an old one, and I had expended a lot of time and effort processing it in my mind. I began writing it in Baghdad and the last few chapters were also written there. Baghdad is where the hero is born and where the novel is set.

Do you have writing rituals?

I don’t know if sitting in a café and listening to people talking, and drinking lots of cups of coffee, counts as a writing ritual or not, but when I don’t do that, I suffer from mental paralysis!

What is your next literary project after this novel?

A new novel which I began at the end of last year, and I’m still working on the early chapters.