10 great Arabic audiobooks you can listen to in English

Arabic literature has seen significant progress in recent decades, with the creation of numerous audiobooks that can be listened to in English. In January, Amazon and the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre launched the Digital Arabic Library, which currently houses 5,000 Arabic-language audiobooks. For international listeners who do not understand Arabic, a growing number of high-quality English translations are being produced as audiobooks by professional narrators and actors.

Here are 10 celebrated Arabic novels that have been translated into English and adapted into engaging audiobooks:

1. Asad's Secret: A Novel of Gaza by Najlaa Attaallah (2026) - Translated by Sawad Hussain, narrated by Fajer Al-Kaisi. This novel follows 17-year-old Asad as he grows up in a war-torn refugee camp in Gaza during 2011.

2. Of Loss and Lavender by Sinan Antoon (2026) - Translated by Sinan Antoon, narrated by Fajer Al-Kaisi. This novel tells the story of two Iraqi men living in the US, one a retired doctor dealing with dementia and the other a young man who fled the Iraqi army.

3. Minor Detail by Adania Shibli (2020) - Translated by Elisabeth Jaquette, narrated by Siiri Scott. This novel explores a brutal crime committed in Palestine during the summer of 1949 and its long-lasting effects on the community.

4. Death Is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa (2019) - Translated by Leri Price, narrated by Neil Shah. This novel is set against the backdrop of the Syrian civil war, following three siblings as they travel from Damascus to their village near Aleppo to bury their father.

5. Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (2019) - Translated by Marilyn Booth, narrated by Laurence Bouvard. This novel won the Man Booker International Prize and offers a surrealistic look at Oman through the eyes of three sisters living in the village of Al Awafi.

6. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (2019) - Translated by William Maynard Hutchins and Olive E Kenny, narrated by Neil Shah. The first book in the Cairo Trilogy, Palace Walk follows the Al Jawad family through major sociopolitical changes in Egypt during the 1917 Egyptian Revolution.

7. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi (2018) - Translated by Jonathan Wright, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and Kaleo Griffith. This novel is a searing examination of sectarian violence that distorted Iraqi society following the US invasion in 2003, featuring a panoply of characters and a titular monster, Whatsitsname.

8. The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon (2026) - Translated by Sinan Antoon, narrated by Fajer Al-Kaisi. This novel is a powerful exploration of the human condition in Iraq, with Fajer Al-Kaisi providing the narration.

9. White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners by Narges Mohammadi (2023) - Translated and narrated by Narges Mohammadi. This book presents firsthand accounts of the experiences of Iranian women prisoners, providing a unique perspective on the Iranian prison system.

10. The Shadow of the Wind by Abdulrazak Ghanem (2019) - Translated by Elizabeth Shoemaker, narrated by Harry Burkholder. This novel tells the story of a boy growing up in 1930s Granada, Spain, and his discovery of a mysterious book that changes his life.