10 Contemporary Iraqi Writers You Should Know — theculturetrip.com

Najem Wali was born in al-Amara and studied German at Baghdad University. Following the completion of his university degree in 1978, Wali was drafted for military service, during which time he was reputedly arrested and tortured as a dissenter. Given the problems arising in the duration of his training, the outbreak of the Iraq/Iran war in the 1980s led to Wali fleeing the country for fear of similar treatment, arriving in Hamburg in November 1980 where he remained in exile. Wali’s Journey To Tell Al-Lahm is arguably his best known work, having becoming something of a cult classic following its initial publication in 2004. The tale is a ‘no holds barred’ description of Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, stylised in the manner of a Keroauc-esque ‘road’ narrative. The two protagonists, Najem and Ma’ali, travel in a stolen Mercedes towards Tell Al-Lahm, entertaining each other with fragmented memories and stories. These snippets are pieced together by the reader to result in a beautifully crafted novel acerbically commenting upon the bitter personal resentment and fractious violence underlying the Saddam regime.

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