Mario Vitale” is available in English translation and will be featured at the Paris Book Festival on April 17, 18, and 19, 2026. Tea with Mario Vitale By Ahmed Juma . Translated by:
Mona Ahmad Ebrahim
An orange, cube-shaped sun explodes in the sky. Purple cosmic dust descends upon the earth, scorching the skin of the living. Governments collapse. Prayers rise to a deafening heaven. And in the paralyzed streets of Milan, the ghosts of the past return to claim their due. Ahmed Al-Qarmzi wanders this catastrophic world with a certainty that grips him: his tormentor is here. Somewhere in this dying city, Colonel Ghazi Fallah hides, unaware that his victim has been stalking him for months. Exiled and broken by years of imprisonment and torture, Ahmed fled Bahrain to rebuild his life. But how can one live when the tormentor breathes the same air? In the refugee center, destinies intertwine like a terrible prophecy. Lilaf Saeed, a Kurdish refugee traumatized by the Turkish invasion of Afrin, recognizes the officer who tortured her on the streets. Mario Vitale, a racist Italian turned unlikely friend, hides behind his cruelty the scars of a life marked by violence. Sofia, his enigmatic Polish companion nicknamed “The Acid Lady,” secretly plots her revenge. And everyone watches as the sky turns orange, sensing that something immense and irreversible is unfolding before their eyes. As cosmic dust triggers a deadly rash across the globe, a woman appears out of nowhere: Maya Saoud, the mysterious CEO of a global empire, who seems to have foreseen this catastrophe. She has read Ahmed’s articles predicting the end of the world. She wants to meet him. But why would this woman of absolute power care about a writer in exile on the brink of disaster? Maya Saoud, the enigmatic CEO of a global empire, who seems to have foreseen this catastrophe. I’ve read Ahmed’s articles predicting the end of the world. I want to meet him
Loutes Publishing 