From The Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s oldest surviving written story, to Al-Mutanabbi, widely regarded as one of the most influential poets in the Arabic language, Iraq’s cultural heritage is deeply rooted in storytelling.
For centuries, stories have provided a space for creative expression, emotional release and, at times, quiet resistance to external pressures.
In this interview, we spoke with Iraqi-Palestian author, Saleem Haddad.
Born in Kuwait City to an Iraqi-German mother and Palestinian-Lebanese father, Saleem’s writing spans the realms of novels, short stories, essays, film, and television.
His latest release ‘Floodlines’ was in the making for over 10 years, with its UK release earlier this month celebrated by a series of events in conversation with the author. Click here to read more.
The story follows three estranged sisters, Mediha, Zainab and Ishtar, as they return to each other through the search for their late father’s lost paintings.
At its heart, Floodlines is a novel about the Iraqi lived experience, navigating themes of grief, memory and identity, while charting the emotional aftershocks of a century shaped by war and revolution in Iraq and beyond.
What does it mean to present a novel, centred on an Iraqi family to an international audience in this setting?
“I’m half Palestinian, half Iraqi, and I grew up with the Palestinian side of my family. But the Iraqi side of my family are generations of artists – So my experience of Iraq was always through art”, notes Saleem.
The author shares ancestry with one of Iraq’s most decorated modern artists, Jewad Salim, as well as artist and activist, Rashad Salim.
“My entry point for understanding Iraq was Iraqi art. When I first started thinking about this novel, it was probably 2014-2015 and the news we heard about Iraq was so one dimensional, and I felt it really obscured this really rich artistic history. For me, part of the motivation in doing research for this novel was not just understanding my own family and the creative legacy they left behind, but also to present and showcase the rich artistic history that Iraq has. Not just the history but the mythology, the archeology and how these have been contested in many different ways.
It was a real joy to do research.”
“The way that I constructed the novel was by working with real paintings and sculptures that were created by real artists, like Jawad Salim, Lorna Selim or Rashad Salim, and once I took those artworks I then created characters that might have created these artworks. So I was really engaging with that period of Iraqi modernism in my art and in my writing.”
How do you balance writing for a global audience while staying authentic to Iraqi nuance?
“I’m always aware of the western reader while writing, but I try to not let it dictate what I’m writing. I’m just aware of how things might be perceived for different audiences – but I try as much as possible to not think of a western audience, or even an audience in general,” admits Saleem.
“I think the bigger concern that I had, was that I was working with the legacies of artists that are quite revered in Iraq, like Jawad Salim is seen as this very big figure. There is a part of me that remains concerned about how people would respond to that; me taking this very famous artist’s artwork and creating these characters. But, I don’t necessarily thınk I was thinking too much about the western viewpoint. In fact, my publisher was saying that this novel might be too complicated for people that don’t know Iraqi or Arab history. I don’t agree because it opens doors. If you are interested in something then you read about it, research and discover.”
Often referred to as the ‘Cradle of Civilisation’, Iraq offers no shortage of history and cultural heritage to captivate the curious mind.
Recent figures suggest a renewed interest in the country. Statistics released by the University of Basra indicate that Iraq’s tourism revenue rose by 25 per cent between 2023 and 2024, a notable increase that points to a growing global curiosity about Iraq’s past and present.
Lastly, what would you say to young Iraqis who carry complex family histories and are trying to understand where they belong?
“I would say to embrace the complexity. I think it’s really powerful to embrace the complexity and I think it’s also liberating. It’s important because it counters a lot of hegemonic narratives about what it means to be Iraqi. Whether from inside Iraq or outside Iraq. So I think embracing the complexity, living in that space of complexity, for me at least as a writer, that’s what I really try to do, and what I try to push for in my writing.”
There also appears to be a resurgence in contemporary Iraqi writing and filmmaking. Authors such as Dalia Al-Dujaili explore the richness of Iraqi diasporic culture, landscape and history, click here to read more, while filmmakers like Hasan Hadi turn their lens to life under dictatorship, as seen through the eyes of a child, in his 2025 Caméra d’Or–winning film, ‘The President’s Cake’.
Across Iraq and throughout the global diaspora, Iraqis are reconnecting with their storytelling traditions, reshaping how their histories are told and reclaiming the narrative in their own voices
- Published: 23rd February, 2026
- Location: London
- Country: United Kingdom
- Editor: Amel Saleh
- Photographer: Amel Saleh
- Category: Events
