This month we present humor writing translated from the Arabic. Arabic literature has a rich tradition of the comic, grounded in human folly and a keen sense of the absurd in both the personal and the political. From pompous generals to toiling laborers, in nuptial chambers and crowded graveyards, the characters in this issue offer comedy both specific and universal. Libyan author Najwa Bin Shatwan’s hapless ghost risks his (after)life as he seeks a final resting place. In two pieces from Egypt, Muhammed Mustajab looks on as quarry workers literally roast on the job, while the great poet and songwriter Ahmed Fouad Negm’s satirical lyrics skewer the powerful. Classic Iraqi writer Ibn al-Jawzi’s twelfth-century taxonomy of morons proves that stupidity has always been a current event. And in two romantic farces, Lebanon’s Sahar Mandour faithfully records a young TV star’s serial infidelity, and Yemeni playwright Wajdi Al-Ahdal’s wedding scene is upstaged by an assassination attempt. We thank our guest editor, M. Lynx Qualey, for her contributions and sharp introduction to the issue.