"Am I right in settling in Morocco, in Marrakech? I like peace and quiet, and these things mean something to me at my age. I went there much earlier and I felt I couldn’t take it. It was too dull."

The most recognized name in Arabic literary translation, having published 28 volumes of short stories, novels and poems, Johnson-Davies was the first to introduce the works of Arab writers to the English-speaking world. He was also the first to translate Naguib Mahfouz, selecting a short story by the man who became a Nobel laureate in 1988.

"I never thought of myself as a translator, it was something I did," he says now. "I’ve never made a living out of translation. I may be well known for it, but it is a very badly paid profession, so I’ve done all sorts of things."

His fascination with Arab culture has spanned more than six decades, and he’s rubbed elbows with heads of state, writers and intellectuals. Living in Cairo, Iran, Beirut and the Gulf, Johnson-Davies has served as a lecturer in English at Fouad Al-Awwal University (later Cairo University), an oil company representative, a lawyer, businessman and director of an Arabic broadcasting station.

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