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Fadhil al-Azzawi
was born in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, in 1940. He has a BA in English Literature from Baghdad University and a PhD in Journalism from Leipzig University. He edited literary magazines and newspapers in Iraq and abroad and has been publishing his poetry since the 1960s. He left Iraq in 1977 and has settled in Germany.
He has published numerous volumes of poetry, six novels, one collection of short stories, two works of criticism and many translations from English and German into Arabic. His poetry has been translated into several languages. He is a contributing editor of Banipal magazine.
Khaled Mattawa’s translation of his poetry collection In Every Well a Joseph is Weeping won QRL’s international poetry book competition in 1997.
In 2003 BOA Editions (USA) published Miracle Maker: Selected Poems of Fadhil Al-Azzawi, trans. and intro. by Khaled Mattawa.
Fadhil al-Azzawi's novels are now being translated into English. His Last of the Angels, translated by William M Hutchins, is reviewed by The Complete Review – click here to go to the review.
His novel Cell Block Five, excerpted in Banipal (made into a successful film in Syria in the 1970s) is now published in English translation by William M Hutchins. To read the review by The Complete Review, click here.
To read a review by James Dalglish of Last of the Angels and Cell Block Five in Banipal 38, click here.
In July 2010,Fadhil al-Azzawi was at the Ledbury Poetry Festival with fellow Iraqi poet Sinan Antoon, talking about the importance of poetry in Iraqi cultural life and reading from his works. For all details click here
In 2010 and 2011 he was chair of judges of the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, the judges that year awarding first prize to the two authors Mohammed Achaari for The Arch and the Butterfly and Raja Alem for The Doves' Necklace – click here for more details.
To read a review of his novel The Traveler and the Innkeeper, translated by William M Hutchins and published by AUC Press, in World Literature Today, click here.
Contributor's Issues
Banipal 27 - Autumn/Winter 2006
Banipal 39 - Modern Tunisian Literature (2010)
Banipal 50 - Prison Writing (2014)
Banipal 65 - The Beautiful Creatures of Fadhil Al-Azzawi (Summer 2019)
Banipal 71 - Salutes Ihsan Abdel Kouddous (Summer 2021)
Banipal 44 - 12 Women Writers (2012)
Banipal 33 - Autumn/Winter 2008
Banipal 62 - A Literary Journey through Arab Cinema (2018)
Banipal 53 - The Short Stories of Zakaria Tamer (2015)
Banipal 49 - A Cornucopia of Short Stories (2014)
Banipal 36 - Literature in Yemen Today (2009)
Banipal 46 - 80 New Poems (2013)
Banipal 45 - Writers from Palestine (2012)
The Tent Generations
Things I Left Behind by Shada Mustafa, translated by Nancy Roberts
Shadow of the Sun by Taleb Alrefai
Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah
The Stone Serpent, Barates of Palmyra’s Elegy for Regina his Beloved by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Mansi A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Saleh (Banipal Books, 2020)
Tayeb Salih
Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi
Habib Selmi, author of Goat Mountain and 3 times shortlisted for the IPAF
The Mariner by Taleb Alrefai (Banipal Books, 2020)
Taleb Alrefai, author of Shadow of the Sun and The Mariner
Digital images
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures by Fadhil al-Azzawi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Fadhil al-Azzawi
Poems of Alexandria and New York by Ahmed Morsi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Digital Banipal promotion B67
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Denys Johnson-Davies (1922–2017) 70 years translating Arabic literature
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
Mahmoud Shukair – see special feature of Banipal 70 (Spring 2021)
LATEST NEWS
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Link to poems by Mosab Abu Toha, published in Banipal 71 (Summer 2021), available to read online
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Link to poem by Liana Badr published in Banipal 74, now available as an online selection
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GRIFFIN PRIZE SHORTLIST 2023
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Banipal's first audiobook* * *
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Banipal Book Club
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