Iraqi Book Club

Tue, Jan 25, 2022 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time (UTC±0)

Register here.

Together, we share our stories about Iraq and meet new people in a supportive environment. We do this by talking about books.

About this event

We are a community group of people who have a relationship with Iraq. Some of us were born there, some of our parents were born there, some have lived and worked there and some are just curious.

Together, we aim to share our stories about Iraq and meet new people in a supportive environment. We do this by talking about books.

We talk about books written by Iraqi authors, both nonfiction and fiction. We like to read traditionally minority voices, like those of women, religious minorities and people who are queer. We do this so we can get the full picture of what it means to live in Iraq.

We meet every other month online to learn and get to know new people. Every so often we have a get-together in person somewhere in the UK. All sessions are appropriate for anyone with an open mind and heart, of any ethnicity and background!

Previous Reads:

• The Beekeper of Sinjar by Dunya Mikhail
• Cultural Cleansing in Iraq: Why Museums Were Looted, Libraries Burned and Academics Murdered by Raymond W. Baker, Shereen T. Ismael, Tareq Y. Ismael
• The American Granddaughter – Inaam Kachachi AND Iraqi Odyssey (documentary)

____

BOOK OF THE MONTH: The Watermelon Boys – Ruqaya Izzidien

It is the winter of 1915 and Iraq has been engulfed by the First World War. Hungry for independence from Ottoman rule, Ahmad leaves his peaceful family life on the banks of the Tigris to join the British-led revolt. Thousands of miles away, Welsh teenager Carwyn reluctantly enlists and is sent, via Gallipoli and Egypt, to the Mesopotamia campaign.

Carwyn’s and Ahmad’s paths cross, and their fates are bound together. Both are forever changed, not only by their experience of war, but also by the parallel discrimination and betrayal they face.

Join us to chat about our responses to these writings and (if we have them our own dreams for the future of Iraq