Fadhil Al Azzawi (Arabic: فاضل العزاوي; born 1940) is a prominent
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
i poet and writer. He has published ten volumes of poetry, six novels, three books of criticism and memoir, and several translations of German literary works. He participated in Iraq's avant-garde Sixties Generation, and his early controversial work was lauded with great enthusiasm.
Life and career
Fadhil Al Azzawi was born in Kirkuk in 1940. As a young boy, he was fascinated by the sound and rhythm of the ''
Qu'ran
The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God (''Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides i ...
'' and noticed that poetry was evident in Iraqi folklore such as the tales of the
Arabian Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...
. In the post war period, when contemporary poetry filtered into Iraq, Al Azzaawi quickly acquainted himself with its forms.
He holds a
BA in English Literature from
Baghdad University
The University of Baghdad (UOB) (, also known as Baghdad University) is a public research university in Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the ...
.
He edited a number of magazines in Iraq, and founded the poetry magazine ''Shi’r 69'', which was subsequently banned. He spent three years in jail under the dictatorship of the Ba`th regime.
As the Baathist-controlled regime became increasingly powerful, Fadhil decided to leave Iraq in 1976 for political reasons. He later earned a doctorate in communications studies from
Leipzig University
Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
. He has worked as a freelance journalist and translator for Arab newspapers and cultural reviews.
He currently resides in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, where he works as a full-time writer.
Works
He has published nine volumes of poetry in Arabic and one in German. He also contributes articles and poetry to magazines, newspapers and journals and regularly writes for ''Words Without Borders''. His works have been translated into European and Eastern languages, including English, German, French, Swedish, Spanish, Norwegian, Hungarian, Turkish, Hebrew, and Persian. His poetry is also included in anthologies such as ''Fifteen Iraqi Poets.''
[Mikhail, D., ''Fifteen Iraqi Poets,'' The Poetry Foundation, 2013, pp 37-50]
*
* ''In Every Well a Joseph Is Weeping'', ''Quarterly Review of Books,'' 1997
* ''"Cell Block Five"'' (2008, The American University in Cairo Press)
* ''The Last of the Angels'' (2007, The American University in Cairo Press).
* ''The Traveler and the Innkeeper'' (2011, The American University in Cairo Press).
*Contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West (''Gingko Library, 2019).
See also
*
Iraqi art
Iraqi art is one of the richest art heritages in world and refers to all works of visual art originating from the geographical region of what is present day Iraq since ancient Mesopotamia, Mesopotamian periods. For centuries, the capital, Baghd ...
*
List of Iraqi artists
The following is a list of important artists, including visual arts, poets and musicians, who were born in Iraq, active in Iraq or whose body of work is primarily concerned with Iraqi themes or subject matter.
Note: This article uses Arabic nami ...
References
External links
Fadhil Al Azzawi at BoaEditions.orgauthor pageat
Lyrikline.org, with audio, text, and translations into German, Dutch, Persian, and Turkish.
"Fadhil Al Azzawi at the international literature festival berlin"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azzawi, Fadhil
1940 births
People from Kirkuk
20th-century Iraqi journalists
Living people
Iraqi expatriates in Germany
Leipzig University alumni