Thursday, August 16, 2007

new crop of books in english by iraqis







Saadi Youssef












'Iraq's writers bring a nation's agony to the world's bookshops'
The agony through which Iraq and its people have passed for so many years has long-been the subject of books, poetry and articles by the country's writers. The horrors that have been meted out on the country since the invasion of 2003 have forced its writers through many phases: in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's fall, when censorship was lifted, a new era of artistic freedom seemed to be the promise; the insurgency soon put an end to these new-found freedoms, as writers became the targets of extremism and their favoured haunts in Baghdad the target of suicidebombers.
Even so, as Susannah Tarbush writes, the contortions from which Iraq is suffering have produced a wide range of novels and other writings which are now becoming widely available to the English-speaking world. (right: Sinan Antooon)




Fadhil al-Azzawi (below) and Lewis Alsamari (right)


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