"In the last week of our series on Iraq’s diverse literary scene — curated by Hend Saeed — we focus on Diaa Jubaili's The Lion of Basra, which is set amongst the fragmentation of Iraq's different religious communities."
‘The Bird Tattoo’: Between Horror and Peace in the Sinjar Mountains
"In the quiet, slow-growing love between Elias and Helen, the reader experiences the polar opposite of the slave market and the horrors in Ayash's house."
‘Born on the Wrong Side of the Border’
"Why was I sitting here, wearing this uniform, with these people whose language I hardly understood?"
‘When Darkness Falls’: On the Shortened, Brilliant Life of Iraqi Author Hayat Sharara
"The word eib rings in my head, it is eib to love, to sing, to get sick, to divorce, to show your emotions...and.…and. I felt these social chains were burdening me with fear, despair, and confusion, and I almost abandoned work on the book, but when I looked at the materials that I had collected, I knew that if I didn’t publish it now, it would never be published.”
Najwa Binshatwan: It’s Time for Libyan Writers to Prove Themselves
"Often, readers tell me I should write about one subject or another, and I don’t like this sort of relationship, where readers approach the writer as though they're a machine or a mythical creature."
ArabLit in Australia: A Conversation with Amal Awad
"There is just too much emphasis on women as barometers for society."
