Fadhil Al Azzawi


Fadhil Al Azzawi is an Iraqi writer highly respected in the Arab world, as 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 Q'ran and noticed that poetry was evident in Iraqi folklore such as the tales of the Arabian Knights. 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.
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. He has worked as a freelance journalist and translator for Arab newspapers and cultural reviews.
He currently resides in Berlin, 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.