In Focus: Iraq

This January 2022, we share our first “In Focus” section, edited by Hend Saeed. For “Canonical Works & New Voices,” we asked a number of Iraqi writers, translators, and scholars to put together a list of their highlights from Iraqi literature. In “30 Reads: A Month of Iraqi Women Writers,” we have 30 days of reading suggestions by women writers, originally composed in Arabic or Kurdish. Explore more special features below, with more from our archives on the left.


 “I remember reading “Yusuf’s Tales” the day it appeared in a newspaper in Iraq. That there’s no collection of short stories by Muhammad Khudayyir is a shame.”

Translator and scholar Shakir Mustafa.

Listicle

Profile

‘Contemporary Iraqi Fiction,’ ed. Shakir Mustafa

’15 Iraqi Poets,’ ed. Dunya Mikhail

Banipal 72, Iraqi Jewish Writers