In 1987, he received the Baden-Württembergischen Autorenpreis für das deutschsprachige Jugendtheater for his play Nazim schiebt ab.
In Magic Hoffmann, Hausaufgaben and Edelsmanns Tochter, Arjouni deals with rising nationalism, historical revisionism and anti-Semitism in post reunification Germany.
His novel Chez Max takes place in Paris in the year 2064 and describes a society subject to heavy state surveillance as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In one of his last novels, Der heilige Eddy (2009), Arjouni departed from his previously serious themes and produced a lightweight contemporary picaresque piece.
His thriller novel Cherryman jagt Mr. White (2011) has an 18-year-old protagonist in rural Brandenburg who has to face brutal violence by young Nazis of his own village.