An oft-repeated saying holds that “Egypt writes, Lebanon publishes, and Iraq reads.”
Unfortunately, while Egyptians still write and the Lebanese still publish, Iraqi literacy rates have plummeted in the last two decades, on the heels of a blockade and two Anglo-led wars. While once a shining light of regional literacy (around 9o percent), literacy rates are now down to 74 percent of the adult population.
Yet Iraqi literature continues, somehow, to blossom. There are older writers Fadhil al-Azzawi and Muhammad Khudayyir still at work (although the former in Germany), and much younger ones, too: Thirtysomething Iraqi Hassan Blassim has been called “perhaps the best writer of Arabic fiction alive.”
My list is anything but comprehensive. (For instance, several authors who made the Arab Writers Union’s “Top 105” list are not here because they haven’t been translated.) If you’re looking for more seasoned authors, check the list. If you’re looking for more young authors, visit Blasim’s “Iraq Story” website. I also recommend the anthology Contemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology (edited by Shakir Mustafa) and Banipal 37: Iraqi Authors, for writers who are sometimes a bit off the beaten path.
What follows are just few a Iraqi writers who can be found in translation:
Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (1919 – 1994) All right, he’s a Palestinian author, but he spent half his life (post-Nakba) in Iraq. A poet, a novelist, a translator, a literary critic, a music lover and more, Jabra was mourned both at the time of his death as well as after the bombing of his Baghdad home. Books by Jabra you should seek out: The First Well: A Bethlehem Boyhood, translated by Issa Boullata; In Search of Walid Masoud, translated by Adnan Haydar & Roger Allen; Princesses’ Street: Baghdad Memories, translated by Issa Boullata.
Nazik al-Malaika (1922 – 2007) – One of the more influential contemporary Iraqi female poets, and one of the first to switch to free verse. A little bit of Al-Malaika here.
Sami Michael (1926 – ) Michael is an Iraqi-born, Israeli author who now writes in Hebrew. He talks about the switch from Arabic to Hebrew here. I believe two of his novels are available in English.
Fouad Al-Takarli (1927 – 2008) – His The Long Way Back was translated by Catherine Cobham and published by AUC Press in 2007. An obituary from The Sunday Times talks more about his life and influence.
Mahdi Issa al-Saqr (1930 – 2006) A pioneer of modern Iraqi literature, al-Saqr published his first collection of short stories, Mujrimoon Tayeboon, in 1954. His East Winds, West Winds was recently published in English by AUC Press. I have yet only read a couple chapters of it, but I was certainly engaged.
Saadi Youssef (1934 – ) One of the great living Arab poets, and a great lover of the possibilities of the Arabic language. Read more about him, and browse through a number of his poems in translation.
Samir Naqqash (1938-2004) An Iraqi-Jewish novelist; one of the few who continued to write in Arabic throughout his career, and beautifully, at that. Not-much translated, but you can find him in Contemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology.
Mahmoud Saeed (1939 – ) Saeed has written many novels, a number of which have been translated into English, including his moving Saddam City. You can read a Q&A with him on ArabLit.
Muhammad Khudayyir (1940 – ) Not much has been written in English about Muhammad Khudayyir, who was born in Basra and continues to live there. But he is a thoughtful and truly original writer, and his Basrayatha has some moments where the reader can fly. I review his Basrayatha here, and you can read one of his lovely short stories on Banipal.
Fadhil Al-Azzawi (1940 – ) Part of the “Kirkuk Group” and Iraqi literature’s avant garde “Sixties Generation,” Al-Azzawi is well-known in Iraq and perhaps the most well-known Iraqi writer abroad. You can read his Cell Block 5 and The Last of the Angels in translation. I review The Last of the Angels here.
Sargon Boulus (1944 – ) I recently wrote up a short view on the under-appreciated Sargon Boulus. If novelist/poet/translator Sinan Antoon keeps at his translations, however, there should be more appreciation for the boundary-breaking Iraqi poet in the future.
Hadiya Hussein – Her Beyond Love was recently translated into beautiful English by Ikram Masmoudi.
Buthaina al-Nasiri (1947 – ) Al-Nasiri, who has lived in Cairo since 1979, has published an accomplished volume of short stories with AUC Press, Final Night.
Inaam Kachachi (1952 – ) Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (the “Arabic Booker”) for her The American Granddaughter, Kachachiis presently Paris correspondent of Asharq Al-Awsat and Kol Al-Usra newspapers. A translation of An American Granddaughter is now out in translation from Bloomsbury-Qatar. Kachachi has also written nonfiction about Iraqi women’s writing.
Nassif Falak (1954 – ) The excerpt from his novel The Worm in Banipal scared the bejeepers out of me.
Samuel Shimon (1956 – ) The kingpin of the Banipal world, Shimon recently released his Iraqi in Paris, which I believe was much more successful in Arabic than in English, but still worth reading in English. Check out a hilarious picture of Shimon in his sweats on his website.
Luay Hamza Abbas (1965 – ) Yasmeen Hanoosh recently won a translation grant to work on Luay Hamza Abbas’s Closing His Eyes. If you can’t wait until she’s finished (the grant was recent), Maia Tabet translated two of Abbas’s stories in Banipal 37, and they were quite compelling.
Dunya Mikhail (1965 – ) Mikhail has won a number of literary accolades in her adopted home, the U.S.; her poetry collection The War Works Hard was named a notable book by the NY Public Library System; she currently lives in Michigan. Here, on the topic of censorship in the U.S. and Iraq.
Betool Khedairi (1965 – ) I am a particular fan of Khedairi‘s second novel, Absent, about which I wrote a long essay for The New Orleans Review. Where did I put that review? Anyhow, find out more about her at her website.
Sinan Antoon (1967 – ) Antoon is an Iraqi who now teaches at NYU, and also translates, writes, and disturbs the status quo. His first novel, I’jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody, is available in English, and he says he’s working on a translation of his second novel The Pomegranate Alone. You can read an excerpt of it. Antoon’s Ave Maria has been longlisted for the 2013 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
Muhsin al-Ramli (1967 – ) Al-Ramli’s The President’s Gardens was also longlisted for the 2013 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and his Fingers of Dates was widely acclaimed and is soon to be in English translation from Luke Leafgren.
Abdul Hadi Sadoun (1968 – ) This violates my “writers available in translation” rule above, but Sadoun’s Diary of an Iraqi Dog was a highlight of 2012.
And now to the Beirut39ers:
Basim al-Ansar (1970 – ) Al Ansar spoke with Beirut39 about his beginnings as a writer.
Ahmed Saadawi (1973 – ) Saadawi on writing: inspired (at first) by Mahdi Issa Saqer and Muhammad Khudayyir.
Overlooked for the Beirut39 accolade:
Hassan Blasim (1973 – ) As you already heard, perhaps the best living author…etc…etc… I review his collection Madman of Freedom Square here.
Ali Bader (1974 – ) His best-known work is perhaps his Baba Sartre, but his The Tobacco Keeper is also an accomplishment of broad scope. Here on ArabLit, 5 questions with Bader.
Feel free to tell me who I’m missing…
October 1, 2011 @ 5:42 pm
It is very disappointed each time I find the same names of Iraqi writers in all websites. I don’t know if you know that most of Iraqi people and writers don’t know most of these mentioned names! I don’t know who is the editor of this section, but I’m pretty sure (S-he) knows there are so many Iraqi writers deserve to be here also, but there is a big problem: they don’t have personal relation with some Arabic, especially Iraqi ‘figures”, who control the media and the press around the world. I feel sorry for that.
December 13, 2019 @ 4:14 pm
You are absolutely right. In order to be recognized in Iraq, you have to know someone in power who directs the media to shine the light on you. My name is “Yasin al-Jibouri” and so far I have written, edited and translated 83 books, yet The Culture Trip does not know who I am although all my books, with the exception of a lone one, are in English! How do you explain that?!
November 11, 2011 @ 4:23 am
Thank you for the elaborate account of Iraqi writers. Good work! Very interesting and it’s quite obvious that too much time and effort were put into compiling the present list. Your effort is highly appreciated. However, I happened to have compiled a rather longer list of the names of Iraqi novelists and short story writers than the one you have posted here. The thirty or so names in my list are not mentioned above. I can send the list to you if I had your e-mail address. Keep on writing about the brilliant Iraqi men and women who are creating the new narrative in the land between the two rivers, Iraq.
The Best of Iraqi Lit That Is (and Isn’t) in Translation | Arabic Literature (in English)
December 4, 2011 @ 6:01 am
[…] 1974 and went on to become a Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, commented recently on my (incomplete) list of Iraqi writers. I invited Dr. AlKilabi, who has taught in Iraq, Jordan, and Oman, to give his views on this moment […]
January 17, 2012 @ 2:25 pm
Just a quick note to say that by Iraqi writers, you are referring to those who write in Arabic only, as there are no mention of Iraqi Kurdish writers who write in Kurdish. Poets Sherko Bekas, Dlawar Qaradaghi, fiction writers Bakhtiyar Ali, Karwan Kakasur, Sherzad Hasan are among the most prominent.
January 17, 2012 @ 5:01 pm
You’re right…of course, if you wanted to pen a guest post about Iraqi literature in Kurdish, well, I’d be happy to publish it…
April 26, 2012 @ 12:58 am
thanx for your list of Iraqi writer’s i have never known about them before, and i’m so proud that we have novelist, but at the same time i feel sorry that we missed knowing them or even studying their works
October 22, 2012 @ 11:02 pm
Your list is awesome for sure, thank you so much for the effort, however, you are missing a couple of real smart and talented writers such as Ali Alwardi, Badr Shakir Alsayab, Aljawahiri, these names and more are actually (or were) real stars that taught generations through their words and whose names still shine among the Iraqi and Arabic knowledge-seeking population – i can only say, please keep up the good work, and it would be great if you could update the list on a regular basis. Much appreciated 🙂
October 23, 2012 @ 2:39 am
Aaliyah, yes, the list should be revisited and expanded…I will put it on the list, surely.
March 25, 2015 @ 9:22 pm
Good
April 21, 2015 @ 9:13 pm
How did you forget about me?! Up to April of 2015, I have written, edited and translated more than 78 works many of which are being marketed by Amazon.
April 21, 2015 @ 9:14 pm
And if anyone wishes to review the list of my 78 works, he can write me: yasinaljibouri@hotmail.com and you can see that my name is Yasin al-Jibouri.
December 13, 2019 @ 4:18 pm
My Hotmail email was hacked and my new email is: yasinaljibouri@gmail.com. After my return to Iraq following 32 years in exile, I wrote three books about Iraqi arts and culture and edited a fourth about artist Mu`tasim al-Kubaisi. Each of the three books referred to above falls in 480 color pages while the fourth falls in 420 color pages. Despite such production, The Culture Trip never heard of me! Is that possible in our day and time?!
May 29, 2015 @ 5:48 pm
Despite my previous correspondence (via emails) with you, my name does not appear as one of the Arab (Iraqi) translators. I feel offended. So far, I have translated, edited and written 78 books, and I doubt anyone on your list of translators can claim the same. Visit my Academia.edu web page and see for yourself: https://cau.academia.edu/YasinAlJibouri
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