Reel Iraq Events – Coming Soon!
April 27, 2009
“I have heard it said that, if you really want to understand a country and its people, you should watch its films. Against a background of the harrowing images of a war-torn Iraq that flood our media on a daily basis, Reel Iraq offers us the chance to begin to know the people of Iraq – their lives, their culture and their humanity. I very much hope that the people of Scotland will embrace this festival with the openness and warmth for which we are famed.”.
The writers Sinan Antoon, Hussain al-Mozany, Betool Khedairi, Gulala Nouri and Saadi Youssef will be performing a series of readings at the MacDonald Road Library at 5.30pm on the 19th of May and the Forest Café at 8pm on the 20th of May. Come for a rare chance to see modern Iraqi writers reading in Edinburgh!
The MacDonald Road reading will feature prose, poetry and story-telling from:
Sinan Antoon – Poet, Novelist and filmmaker whose novel I’Jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody was hailed as “a novel par excellence.”
Hussain al-Mozany – Short stories from the effervescent novelist and journalist.
Betool Khedairi – Born in Baghdad to an Iraqi father and Scottish mother. Her first novel, A Sky So Close, had been translated into English, Italian, French and Dutch and is worthy of study.
Gulala Nouri – A magnificent poet with an subtle yet intrepid eye reading new works.
Saadi Youssef – Late 20th century Iraqi literature has been marked by writers such as Saadi Youssef whose poetry has been immensely popular since he started writing at the age of 17. He has published thirty-two collections, a volume of short stories, two novels, several essays, and four volumes of his collected works.
They will be joined at the Forest Café by:
Jane Flett – With her new chapbook!
Faith Nicholson – Spellbinding noises get eaten by bears.
Rob Hearne – guitar originals. Sounds you will like to hear.
