Peter Theroux is an American writer and translator. He studied [[English literature at [[Harvard University, and spent a year at the [[American University in Cairo. He worked as a journalist in [[Saudi Arabia, and for a time was a staff reporter for the [[Wall Street Journal.

Theroux's first translated literary work was [[Cities of Salt, the epic novel by the Saudi writer [[Abdelrahman Munif. Other works he has translated include:

• Children of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz
• Rites of Ascent by the Egyptian writer Abd al-Hakim Qasim
• Naphtalene: A Novel of Baghdad by the Iraqi writer Alia Mamdouh
• Yalo by Elias Khoury
• Journey to the Heart of My Enemy by the Iraqi writer Najem Wali
• Dongola: A Novel of Nubia by Idris Ali
• The House of Mathilde by Hassan Daoud
• Saraya: The Ogre's Daughter: a Palestinian Fairy Tale by Emile Habiby

Theroux has translated literary works from a wide range of Arabic dialects including Egyptian, Iraqi, Nubian, and Lebanese. His translations are highly regarded. Fellow translator Raymond Stock said of his work: There's none better. His translations are clear and poetic and read like they’re written in English.^[1]

Alongside these, Theroux has written books of his own, including Sandstorms (1990) that recounted his travels in the Middle East. He has also contributed pieces to National Geographic magazine. Theroux currently lives in Washington DC. He is the younger brother of the famous novelist and travel writer Paul Theroux.