Hawra al-Nadawi

was born in Azamiyah, Baghdad, in August 1984. She moved to Copenhagen with her family immediately after the Second Gulf War because of the political persecution of her father and his and a number of her relatives’ repeated imprisonments. She continued her studies in Danish but her family was determined that she learn Arabic and her mother devoted herself to teaching her at home. She practised writing in Arabic from an early age and penned several short stories. In her twenties, she decided to write a novel, urged on by “a desire to commit myself to a long-term project”. After four years writing on a daily basis, her first novel, Under the Copenhagen Sky, was published. Hawra currently lives in London.


To read an interview with Hawra al-Nadawi by Susannah Tarbush on The Tanjara blogspot, click here.