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Boasting an attendance of 16,000 people, including Nobel laureates in literature, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture concluded its ninth annual Iqra competition on Saturday.
Amin Nasser, Saudi Aramco’s president and CEO, and other senior officials attended the two-day event in Dhahran.
Nobel literature laureates Abdulrazak Gurnah and Olga Tokarczuk were also present and offered insights during speaking sessions.
Visitors experienced a series of activities, culminating in the announcement of the competition’s winners.
Moroccan Meryem Bououd was awarded Reader of the Year, while 10-year-old Moroccan Fatima Kettani won the Promising Reader prize.
Iraqi Hira Karkhi secured the Text of the Year prize, while the Reading School award went to Tarbiyat Al-Ajial of the Private International School, Hafr Al-Batin, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Safia Al-Ghubari claimed the People’s Reader award, while teacher Najla Ghazi Al-Suhaimi took home the Reading Ambassador prize.
Noura Al-Zamil, Ithra’s program director, spoke of the competition’s significant milestones since its inception in 2013.
Over nine editions Iqra has attracted more than 225,000 applicants and offered 48,000 hours of educational programming.
It has also engaged more than 600 speakers from 30 countries, bringing three Nobel Prize-winning authors to its stage.
Al-Zamil stressed Ithra’s continued efforts to innovate, introducing new elements like the Iqra Travels, Iqra Marathon, and Kitabiya Exhibit, to foster a reading culture among Arab youngsters.
The closing event featured cultural sessions, including a talk by Tokarczuk, who discussed literature as a tool for bridging languages and cultures.
Discussing the future, Tokarczuk expressed both optimism and caution, adding: “I embrace modern tools like ChatGPT but remain concerned about their potential misuse.”
Gurnah, reflecting on his roots, said: “Zanzibar will always be my true homeland, despite my long absence.”
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Boasting an attendance of 16,000 people, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture concluded its ninth annual Iqra competition on Saturday. (Supplied)
Iraqi American Zenovia Jafar was over the moon for “having made it” as she was crowned winner of the Miss Arab USA 2024 pageant in Arizona on Sunday.
“My experience with Miss Arab USA is one of the best experiences of my life. When I walked in, I had no idea what was going to happen, if I was even going to win. But most importantly, when I walked in, I will honestly say that winning was the only thing on my mind. I didn’t think about anything else,” Jafar told Arab News in an interview.
“But once I actually got there, I realized the friendships and the connections I’ve made with the people here is priceless and it is far more important than winning … I genuinely wanted to connect with every single person that I met, and I think that’s what helped me win Miss Arab USA. Because I focused more on genuine connection and doing what I need to do. And I was committed to just being myself,” she added.
When asked about her goals going forward, the Michigan resident said: “I’m going to be using my platform to raise awareness on issues regarding people who are … from underdeveloped communities, people who are in need. I’m going to be raising more money for charities. I’m here to serve Miss Arab USA and use my voice to amplify the voices of people who are not heard all over the world.”
Jafar’s family moved to the US — having escaped the war in Iraq and spent two years in Syria after — in the late 90s, when she was a toddler.
“When I moved here, I remember one thing that my mother told us is that we should never forget our roots and where we come from. My mother was committed to teaching us how to read and write and speak Arabic. And that is something that I am so grateful to my mother for because I can read Arabic, I can write Arabic, I can speak Arabic, I can understand many Arabic dialects. And I never let go of who I was and where my family came from. And I think that’s something that is so important when you grow up away from home, is to stay connected to who you are. Because at the end of the day, all you have is your roots,” she said.
When asked if she had any advice for young Arab American women, Jafar said: “I will say that as an Arab woman, it is very, very important to push your limits and always do things outside of your comfort zone because you will never grow as a person if you are stuck in your comfort zone. Always push yourself to be better.”
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Iraqi American Zenovia Jafar (centre) was over the moon for “having made it” as she was crowned winner of the Miss Arab USA 2024 pageant in Arizona on Sunday. (Supplied)
Wadih Betty, the Republic of Iraq’s ambassador to France, declared on Thursday that Iraq has been selected director general of the Arab World Institute in Paris. In a statement obtained by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), Betty stated that “the president of the institute, Jack Lang, signed the letter of assignment for Iraq’s candidate and the Council of the Arab League, poet and writer Shawqi Abdul Amir Al-Hamdani.” He cited “the tremendous efforts made by the Iraqi embassy in Paris, which culminated in reaching a full Arab consensus on the selection of Iraq’s candidate, under the continuous follow-up of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, and under the direct supervision of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.”
“Iraq receives the management of the Institute for the first time since its emergence in the eighties of the last century by former French President Jacques Chirac, which is supervised by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said, expressing gratitude to the Dean and members of the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Paris for their trust in the Republic of Iraq’s candidate for this position. The French Ministry of Culture awarded Shawqi Abdul Amir Al-Hamdani the Knight’s Order of Arts and Letters for 2023, and he is a cultural and literary figure with several books published in both Arabic and French, the speaker noted.
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, expressed his appreciation for the patronage and the support the Award continues to receive from His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Presidential Court. He also praised Sheikh Mansour’s contribution to the development of the date palm cultivation and production sector at the national, regional and international levels.
This is in addition to strengthening the UAE’s leading position through cooperation with date-producing countries and concerned regional and international organisations, where Sheikh Nahyan expressed his confidence in the efforts of the Award’s General Secretariat, which played an important role in building global partnerships to develop this sector.
Dr. Abdelouahhab Zaid, Secretary-General of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, announced the winners of the Award in its 16th session during his speech at the press conference held on Monday at the Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi, in the presence of Dr. Helal Humaid Saed Al Kaabi, Member of the Award’s Board of Trustees, and Secretary-General of the Abu Dhabi Council for Quality and Conformity.
International Award Winners:
The award in the Distinguished Innovative Studies and Modern Technology category was won by Dr. Khaled Masmoudi – College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine (UAEU) for “Enzyme stabilization and thermotolerance function of the intrinsically disordered LEA2 proteins from date palm” and Dr. Ezzeldin Gadallah Hussein Ahmed – Agricultural Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (Egypt), for “Phoenix dactylifera in vitro culture and transformation of Thio-60 antifungal gene via chitosan nanoparticle”.
The award in the Pioneering Development and Productive Projects category was won by Dr. Lim Swee Hua Erin – HCT (Abu Dhabi), for “Sustainable Seeds: A Tale of Two Innovations” and AFRICA ORGANICS (Morocco), for the world’s largest organic date palm plantation (1200 ha) of farmland.
The award in the Pioneering and Sophisticated Innovations Serving the Agricultural Sector category was won by Dr. Yarub Kahtan Abdul Rahman Al Doruri – University of Sharjah for “Production of powder-activated carbon from natural resources” and VALORIZEN LLC, Research and Innovation Centre (Egypt) for “Scalable, Market Driven and Climate Positive Solutions of Date Palm Waste”.
The award in the Influential Figure in the Field of Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation category was won by Dr. Ramzy Abdelrahim Dessoky Aboaiana (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and Prof. Ibraheem Jaddoa Olelwi Al Juboori, PhD (Iraq) for “A qualitative leap and big steps”.
Handed-down skills won the medic crown of Great British Sewing Bee champion.
Head bent in concentration, tape measure slung around her neck, young Asmaa Al-Allak often knelt on the floor amid piles of colourful fabric even as rockets whistled above the family home in southern Iraq.
The seven-year-old would take in every detail of her mother and grandmother flicking through pages of their favourite fashion magazine and discussing the sewing patterns for each outfit featured in that month’s issue.
While the two women traced templates on to bolts of material, Asmaa mimicked them in miniature on remnants for arguably the best-dressed Sindy doll in war-torn Basra.
Four decades later, childhood memories like these compelled Al-Allak to become a contestant on The Great British Sewing Bee 2023, a reality TV show she won in an achievement that, for her, topped even attaining a medical degree.
“Creativity is in the genes,” she tells The National, laughing over a zoom call from Wales, where the consultant breast surgeon, now 47, lives with her engineer husband and children, Sophia, 20, and Jacob, eight.
“My grandmother taught me the basics of sewing, my mother built on those and the rest is self-taught.
“The first thing I remember making for myself was a green cotton pinny dress with a floral design. Terrible! My gran was the only one who was positive, saying: ‘My God, that’s so amazing.’ But that’s grandmothers for you.”
Mariam Al-Ethan didn’t live to see her granddaughter’s greatest triumph but photographs of her were pinned to a vision board for inspiration throughout the competition, and Al-Allak proudly wore a necklace inscribed with the word “Allah” that her grandmother bought for her in a gold souq.
Married at the age of 12, Mariam had long sewed clothes for her extended family before becoming a professional seamstress out of necessity during the prolonged armed conflict between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s.
“It was a really difficult time. Even though my grandad worked, he didn’t have enough to support the family,” says Al-Allak.
In spite, or perhaps because, of being illiterate, Mariam made determined efforts to send her seven children, including Asmaa’s mother Fatima, to university.
Fatima studied at the University of Basrah before undertaking a doctorate in physics at Cardiff University with her husband, Haider, soon after baby Asmaa arrived in 1976.
Initially, Asmaa and her brother Ammar, born two years later, were raised by their maternal grandmother but joined their parents for a few years when Fatima sent for them shortly before hostilities broke out. No longer able to stay in the UK after finishing her PhD, however, Fatima returned with the children to Iraq.
Haider feared his name might be included on the Baathist regime’s list of traitors and objectors and a longed-for reunion would not occur for another eight years.
The Al-Allak siblings were plunged into a war zone, frequently changing schools as they moved between Basra and their father’s relatives near Baghdad, whichever was deemed safest as Iranian troops fired mortars across the border.
When classes were disrupted for up to three months at a time, Asmaa sat transfixed for hours watching broadcasts of the devastation.
“I’ve seen [images of] dead bodies lying in the road,” she says in a flat voice. “If the Iraqi army had a good advancement or had won a battle, they would show pictures from the front on television.
“Even though they were supposed to be the enemy, for me, they were people who had died. My decision to study medicine came because of what I’d seen in Iraq.”
She became an expert in gauging the threat from rocket fire. If a whistle could be heard overhead, Al-Allak knew it was probably going to travel farther.
The ones that didn’t whistle were the more dangerous “because you didn’t know where they would land”.
Backbone of the family
While her mother worked as an assistant professor at the University of Basrah, Al-Allak inevitably grew close to her grandmother, ever the backbone of the family.
The detached house was surrounded on three sides by other homes, and Mariam declared the small kitchen, tucked away at the rear, to be the safest of all the rooms. There, the extended family retreated during the worst bombing campaigns, lying “like sardines” on two mattresses squeezed between the oven and fridge.
For Al-Allak, the rules and rhythms of sewing became a comforting reliability in a world of chaos and confusion: if she followed a pattern, cut fabric on the bias, respected the grain line and measured correctly, a satisfying outcome was guaranteed.
“The only thing that’s kept me going and balanced in life – especially in the past few years – has been sewing.
“It’s my escape, my way to forget about all the troubles in the world and at work. I don’t think I will ever stop.”
An opportunity arose for Al-Allak to rejoin her father after the Gulf War ended in 1991 when Haider was a British citizen working as a physics researcher at Durham University.
Fatima and the children had already endured one failed attempt to leave after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait the year before, packing their bags and waiting in Baghdad for two days before realising all flights had been cancelled.
This time, at Mariam’s behest, she wasn’t taking any chances. “We left everything behind and walked away. There was still food in the fridge and toys on the floor.”
Ripped from her roots
If Al-Allak was devastated at being ripped from her roots, worse came on hearing of the impact the sudden separation had on her grandmother, who sat weeping surrounded by their abandoned possessions.
“It broke her heart,” she says.
After a gruelling 24-hour bus journey to Jordan, the family waited a month for visas to Britain, arriving in the north-east of England in August.
Young Asmaa had forgotten most of the words picked up during her three-year stay as a toddler, and the other pupils at Framwellgate School showed no mercy, mocking her poor grasp of the language, using racist taunts, and pulling her hijab off.
She was pushed to breaking point, and it is clear that the recollections are still painful.
“I couldn’t wait to leave. I used to go home and cry. I said to my Mum: ‘I’m not going back to school. I just can’t do it any more.’”
But Al-Allak, one in a line of strong women, developed a methodical and meticulous means of getting by. “My five-year goals keep me going through life,” she says.
“For me to become a doctor, I knew I had to get good grades. I had to cope with the surrounding environment and not let it affect me.
“My mother was a rock. She told me to rise above it and sat with me with a dictionary trying to help but English wasn’t her first language either.”
Sheer determination earned Al-Allak a place at Cardiff University to study medicine, where for the first time in her teenage years she felt a sense of belonging.
Though she had seemingly left sewing behind in the ancestral home together with her beloved Sindy doll, her mother carried on, making surgical scrubs and other outfits for her on a Singer sewing machine bought at a car boot sale.
That old Singer has since been usurped by a newer model but still sits in Al-Allak’s office near the desk where lace and fancy packaging for the bespoke mastectomy bras she creates for her patients can be glimpsed. There, too, is the Sewing Bee award, and, on a mannequin, the dress described by the show’s judges as “spellbinding”, and “a feat of genius” and “clever engineering”.
Modelled in the final by her close friend and fellow doctor Pritti Aggarwal, it unfurled in a mesmerising transition from electric blue shift dress into shimmering emerald gown.
Al-Allak’s skill at overcoming obstacles such as this last of the 10 weeks of tough sewing challenges will, she hopes, increasingly be put to use to help breast-cancer patients recover physically and mentally, unencumbered by uncomfortable bras or incorrectly positioned inserts for prosthetics.
She plans to continue campaigning for greater consistency in patient provision, while developing the mastectomy lingerie into a viable venture.
“It’s one of the things I’m really passionate about,” she says. “On the NHS, you get a prosthetic to fit in your bra for free. Sometimes the company will also offer a free bra but not always, and the pocket might be on the wrong side.
“You’ll have darker-skinned women receiving a light-coloured prosthetic because there is no other option. Patients are offered different things in different parts of Wales.”
Al-Allak talks of how she employs the same knots during suturing in surgical procedures as those used in sewing but isn’t sure whether the medical skills inform her craft or vice versa; she is inclined to think probably both.
Certainly, her love of fashion dictates the choice of “work” shoes that add several inches to her 5ft 2in frame – red-soled patent leather stilettos only swapped for pink Crocs covered in butterflies in the operating theatre.
“Because I make all my clothes, my one guilty pleasure is Louboutins ,” she admits. “I bought my first pair when I became a consultant and I only buy one pair a year.”
That taste for the finer things in life earned Al-Allak the title of “Queen Asmaa” on The Great British Sewing Bee.
Alas, Sophia, heir-apparent, has yet to take up needle and thread in any way that her mother might describe, in her strong Welsh lilt, as “proper serious” but has found an outlet for her imagination as a fine arts student.
“I think it will happen at some point,” Al-Allak says, hopefully.
Young Jacob, however, expressed an interest in sewing at seven years old, the same age his mother started, and he helps with cutting, pinning and basic stitching.
“Look what he made!” Al-Allak says, gleefully waving a pattern weight stuffed with rice.
And so the rich seam of familial creativity runs on.
An Iraqi artist celebrated his culture and history by recreating a mythical beast in a whopping piece of art that took him a whole year to complete, according to Guinness World Records.
The Iraqi young artist, Ali Al-Rawi, created a work of art depicting the ancient Assyrian winged bull by wrapping copper wires around nails attached to wooden boards to create the largest wire art, measuring 203.76 square meters.
The Assyrian winged bull, known as ‘The Lamassu,’ is a mythological hybrid composed of the head of a human, the body of a bull, and the wings of a bird.
This giant artwork extends over the space of approximately 15 car parking spaces, and it took a whole year to complete.
Around 89 thousand nails and 250 kilograms of pure copper formed into wires of 35,714 meters were used on the surface of 18 wooden planks.
Al-Rawi works as a physician assistant in the city of Ramadi in the Iraqi western governorate of Anbar. His artistic talent grew from scribbling on a school bench to now creating epic pieces of art with wires.
Al-Rawi was inspired after seeing a German artist using that technique in 2016.
After a long search online, he couldn’t find anything to teach him how to do it, so he practiced until he mastered the technique on his own.
“I drew a sail at the beginning. But after that, it took me a lot of experimenting to select the usable materials,” Al-Rawi explained.
“I decided on copper wires and one-inch nails with small heads in order not to affect the shape of the work, to make sure the monuments insulate heat, moisture and scratching, as wood is also coated with three materials to serve this purpose,” Al-Rawi added.
Al-Rawi worked hard over the course of a year and had to cover the board’s entire dimensions with wires of different colors to meet the requirements of breaking the world record.
Al-Rawi moved the entire artwork to several different locations in Iraq to carry out the final measurements and filming.
source/content: iraqinews.com (headline edited)
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The Iraqi artist Ali Al-Rawi holding Guinness World Records certificate. Photo: Guinness World Records
Baghdad hosted the transport ministers of GCC states, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordan to discuss the initiative.
Iraq unveiled on Saturday an ambitious transport project that will connect Asia to Europe, and enhance regional co-operation and economic opportunities.
The one-day conference in Baghdad brought together transport ministers and officials from the GCC, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordan to discuss the establishment of the Development Road initiative.
The huge infrastructure project will link southern Iraq to the border with Turkey, from where it will connect to rail and road networks in Europe.
Addressing the conference, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani said the project would provide an “economic artery and a promising opportunity to bring interests, history and cultures together to make our region a destination for anyone seeking successful investment”.
“Your presence today in stable and secure Baghdad, loaded with opportunities and aspirations, is part of the process of finding solutions,” Mr Al Sudani said.
“The Development Road is an ambitious and well-studied plan towards a strong and successful economy. We see it as a cornerstone for a sustainable non-oil economy, serving Iraq’s neighbours and the region and contributing to efforts for economic integration,” he said.
“It will take all the peoples of the region to an unprecedented stage of communication and integration and that means more stability and capability to face challenges.”
The project involves the construction of about 1,200km of two-way rail networks and a new motorway for passengers and goods originating from Al Faw port, which is being built along the Arabian Gulf in Basra province.
The Iraqi government envisions high-speed trains moving goods and passengers at up to 300 kilometres per hour. Logistic centres and industrial cities are also planned along the network and it could include oil and gas pipelines.
It estimates that the project will cost up to $17 billion, generate $4 billion annually and create at least 100,000 jobs.
“As Iraq [has] recovered and retrieved its pivotal political role in the region, becoming a political convergence point, the time has come for [it] to retrieve its economic role,” Transport Minister Razzaq Al Saadawi told a local TV station on Thursday.
He said the project would transform the economy.
Saturday’s conference “will be a consultative meeting to explain the Development Road project and Al Faw Port, and to listen to the points of view of the participating delegations”, Mr Al Saadawi said.
The participants will discuss a number of proposals with regards to finance – from government funds to investment to the creation of a sovereign fund, with the money coming from the government, investors and loans, he said.
The co-operation between the countries involved in the project is expected to boost the “security and stability of the region and preserve its economy, therefore we are determined to carry out this project”, Mr Al Saadawi said.
At the end of the meeting, Mr Al Saadawi said joint legal, technical, financial and management committees would be formed to discuss financing and implementation.
The project offers an alternative to traditional sea routes, with reduced transport costs and shorter transit times. It will benefit not only the participating countries but also the broader global trade network.
Iraq is keen to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative – a global development strategy involving infrastructure development and investments in about 70 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe – through the Development Road and Al Faw port.
Despite its oil wealth, with about 145 billion barrels of proven reserves, Iraq lags behind neighbouring economies due to decades of war since the 1980s, UN economic sanctions imposed in the ’90s and political and security instability that followed the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
The World Bank’s country representative, Richard Abdulnour, said building infrastructure was a must for “unleashing the geographical potential of Iraq” and expressed the bank’s readiness to support the Development Road project.
Iraq needs to invest more than $21 billion in the coming five years on transportation alone, Mr Abdulnour told the conference.
He said the transportation sector contributed 9 per cent to Iraq’s gross domestic product, and that its annual growth has been 7.4 per cent over the past 10 years.
Iraq has a chequered history of rail transport, reflecting the country’s ups and downs.
A modest form of railway was introduced during the reign of the Ottoman governor to Baghdad Midhat Pasha between 1869 and 1872.
With financial support from wealthy Baghdadi merchants, Midhat Pasha established a horse-drawn tram linking central Baghdad to its northern district of Kadhimiyah.
Decades later, Britain and Germany raced to build railway lines in Iraq to not only transport troops and military equipment but also to establish a connection point linking their colonies.
A railway line linking Iraq to Berlin through Turkey was proposed in 1903 but opened only in 1940. Known as the BBBor the “Three Bs” — for Baghdad, Byzantium (now Istanbul) and Berlin — the line served travellers and was also used to transport commodities, mainly cereals and oil products.
Local rail networks also flourished thanks to oil revenue, with the number of daily train services rising to more than 50.
The BBB line was closed in the late 1970s, shortly before Iraq’s gruelling war with Iran that lasted from 1980 to 1988 and also affected rail operations inside Iraq.
In late 1990s, amid the UN-imposed economic sanctions on Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq reactivated the BBB line after restoring relations with Syria and Turkey. Demand was high from both travellers, mainly pilgrims from and to Syria, and also from merchants transporting goods.
But the revival was short-lived — Turkey asked Iraq to stop services only days before the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The poor security situation in much of northern Iraq after the invasion hindered plans to reactivate the line. Then came the 2014 ISIS onslaught in large areas in the north and west, and the military operations to drive the militants out. The war left railway stations and other infrastructure heavily damaged, with plans for repairs hindered by a lack of funds.
Now, only a few passengers trickle through the once bustling Baghdad Railway Central Station, which was built by the British and inaugurated in 1952 to expand the old station from which the BBB line started. Only two passenger services operate each day, taking commuters between Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, with stops in the cities of Hillah, Diwaniyah, Samawah and Nasiriyah.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture (Ithra) on Wednesday announced the winner of the fifth Ithra Art Prize as Iraqi Finnish artist Adel Abidin.
Abidin’s proposal was a wall installation, called “ON,” that explores connection between history, memory and identity.
The artist won $100,000 for the piece.
“As I delve into the intangible aspects of history, I am confronted with the challenge of scarce reliable archival sources,” the artist wrote on Instagram. “This challenge is especially evident in the context of Arab history, where much remains shrouded in ambiguity, allowing for a broad range of interpretations and augmentations.”
“In my meticulous study of the Zanj Rebellion of 869 AD in southern Iraq, particularly in the city of Basra, I find a captivating example that exemplifies these themes,” he added.
Iraqi writer Abdul Rahman Majeed Al-Rubaie passes away at 83.
The news was confirmed by his friend and fellow writer, Waheed Al-Taweelah, who shared his condolences on Facebook.
Born in Nasiriyah, Iraq, in 1939, Al-Rubaie was considered one of Iraq’s most important contemporary writers.
He was known for his honest and emotionally rich depictions of the human condition in Iraq.
He authored several novels, short stories, plays, and poems that focused on themes of social justice, political commentary, and everyday struggles in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie was a versatile artist who practiced teaching, journalism, and diplomatic work in Lebanon and Tunisia.
He was also a member of the Iraqi Writers Union, the Journalists Syndicate in Iraq, and the Fine Artists Association in Iraq.
His acclaimed novel Al-Washm [The Tattoo], excerpted in Banipal No 17, has been reprinted six times in Morocco but was never published in Saddam’s Iraq.
Al-Rubaie’s contributions to Iraqi literature were widely acclaimed, and he received numerous awards and accolades throughout his life.
In addition to his acclaimed novels, such as “Tattoos” and “Rivers,” Al-Rubaie also wrote plays that were staged in Iraq and abroad.
His play “The City of Strangers” was performed in Baghdad in the 1970s and was later staged in Tunisia and Lebanon.
Another play, “The Game of Assassination,” was performed in Baghdad in 1985 and explored the dark side of Iraqi politics.
Al-Rubaie’s poetry was equally celebrated.
His collections such as “For Love and the Impossible” and “Shahryar Sailing” showcase his lyrical and reflective style.
His poetry often delved into themes of love, loss, and the beauty of the natural world.
Throughout his career, Al-Rubaie was a strong advocate for freedom of expression and the power of literature to promote social change.
He was vocal about the importance of writers and intellectuals in shaping public discourse, and he often used his writing to challenge prevailing attitudes and norms.
Al-Rubaie’s work has been translated into several languages and has received critical acclaim both in Iraq and abroad.
His contributions to Iraqi literature have left an indelible mark on the country’s cultural landscape.
Dr Bnar Talabani, who received award for combatting Covid-19 misinformation, says British monarch showed keen interest in her background.
A doctor who arrived in the UK as a child refugee from Iraq has received a top award from King Charles III for her prominent role in combatting Covid-19 misinformation throughout the pandemic.
Dr Bnar Talabani beamed as the monarch, 74, pinned the ribbon of the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) on her dress during a ceremony at Windsor Castle on Thursday.
She said the monarch, 74, was “really interested” to hear about her background.
The immunology scientist shared photos of their meeting on social media.
“Investiture at Windsor Castle: I met His Majesty the King who was really interested in my background as a former refugee and was utterly delightful to talk to,” she wrote.
“Really special day celebrating with my wonderful family.”
The king could be seen shaking Dr Talabani’s hand and pinning a red ribbon on her dress, in the pictures.
As congratulations poured in for the outspoken doctor, she said she felt “really overwhelmed by everyone’s kind responses”.
Dr Talabani was born in 1988 in northern Iraq to a Kurdish family.
As a toddler, she left her homeland for Iran along with her mother and younger brother to escape Saddam Hussein’s regime. Her father and grandfather remained behind to fight against the dictator.
After making their way to Syria, the Talabanis were recognised as refugees and welcomed to the UK.
Dr Talabani went on to graduate from medical school and pursue a career as a kidney and transplant hospital doctor and immunology scientist at Cardiff University.
She also works as a guide for Team Halo, a global group of scientists and healthcare professionals working to dispel misinformation about the coronavirus.
During the height of the public health crisis she made a name for herself on TikTok.
Dr Talabani used her platform on social media to reach followers, many of them young people, to challenge false and inaccurate claims about Covid.
