Amal Al Jubouri, a native of Iraq, is the author of five collections of poetry in Arabic, Wine from Wounds (1986); Words, Set Me Free! (1994); Take My Body, Do Not Fear for My Sake (1999); 99 Veils (2003); and Hagar Before the Occupation, Hagar After the Occupation (2008, 2011).
Also an active literary translator, she is the founder and editor of East West Publishing, a press with the mission to introduce works of international literature into the Iraqi literary scene.
In 1997, she took refuge in Germany, but returned to live in Baghdad after the fall of the Ba’ath Party. Today she lives and writes in London.
Click Here to watch Sidney Corbett’s Symphony No. 3 Breathing the Water, to poems by Amal Al-Jubouri and Denise Levertov, performed by members of Staatskapelle Berlin.
The play below, based on Hagar Before the Occupation / Hagar After the Occupation, is entitled “White Cells” and is performed by Iraqi group based in Damascus. The director of the play is Iraqi artist Sinan Alzahawi.
White Cells from Bullhorn on Vimeo.
Interview with Amal al-Jubouri
This video captures an interview with Amal regarding her strong ties to both Iraq and Germany. Here, we get a greater understanding of Amal’s background. We see her poems being set to music and song. We get a glimpse of an intimate reading with Gunter Grass. And we get a better understanding of Amal as not only a poet, but as a literary activist and film maker.