Amal Al-Jubouri (born 1967) is an Iraqi writer, poet, translator, journalist and publisher.
Al-Jubouri was born in Baghdad in 1967. [1] When she was 19, al-Jubouri's first anthology Wine from Wounds was published. [2] After a dissenting article she wrote came to the notice of Saddam Hussein, al-Jubouri was interrogated and put under surveillance. She fled Iraq and took political asylum in Germany in 1998. [3] She continued writing her poems in Germany, translated German ones into Arabic language and brought out a periodical Diwan. [4] For a brief period, she also served as the cultural counselor for the Yemeni embassy in Berlin. [2]
Her poetry collection Eheduanna, the Priestess of Exile (1999), won the Best Arabic Book Award at a Lebanese book fair. So Much Euphrates Between Us, another volume of her poems was published in 2003. [5] The same year, she returned to Iraq just a few days after the fall of Hussein. [3] In 2011, Hagar Before the Occupation, Hagar After the Occupation, a collection of her Arabic poems translated into English by Rebecca Gayle Howell and Husam Qaisi, was published. [6] It was shortlisted for the 2012 Best Translated Book Award. [7] Library Journal included it in its Best Books of 2011 list. [2]