Hawra Ayad Bunyan al-Nadawi (born August 1984) is an
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
i writer. She was born in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, to
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
parents. Both her parents were political prisoners under the regime of
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
, and as an infant, al-Nadawi stayed in Iraqi jails with her mother. The family left Iraq for Denmark after the 1991 uprising against the regime, when Hawra was just six years old. She grew up in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, speaking the Arabic, Kurdish and Danish languages. She also studied Latin, French, German and English at school. She has stated that as a young reader, she was fascinated by the works of Egyptian writers which she discovered in her local library.
Tanjara interview
/ref> From an early age, she wrote stories, book reviews, and poems.
Al-Nadawi's debut novel ''Under the Copenhagen Sky'' was published by Dar al-Saqi
Dar or DAR may refer to:
Settlements
* Dar es Salaam, the largest city of Tanzania and East Africa
* Dar, Azerbaijan, a village
* Dar, Iran, a village
People
* Dar (tribe), a Kashmiri tribe in India and Pakistan
* Aleem Dar, Pakistani cricketer ...
and was longlisted for the 2012 Arabic Booker Prize. She was the only female nominee in 2012, as well as the youngest.
She studies linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and lives in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. She is married to footballer Nashat Akram
Nashat Akram Abid Ali Al-Eissa ( ar, نشأت أكرم عبد علي العيسى) (born 12 September 1984) is a former Iraqi professional footballer. Popularly dubbed "The Maestro" and "The Musician", Akram usually played as a playmaker or as ...
, who played for the Al-Shorta Sports Club where her father Ayad Bunyan was the club president.
References
1984 births
Living people
21st-century Iraqi novelists
Kurdish writers
Kurdish women writers
Iraqi women novelists
{{Iraq-writer-stub