Ali Bader - Biography

Biography

Bader was born in Baghdad, where he studied western Philosophy and French Literature. In 2001, he published his seminal novel, Papa Sartre (Arabic: بابا سارتر). The focus of the novel is the 1960s generation, whom he sought to critique for the negative impact of their cultural influence still felt by the current generation today. In particular, the novel highlights the trials and tribulations of the pseudo-intellectuals of sixties Baghdad in parody form. It also includes memorable portrayals of Iraq’s wealthy and influential families in their decline. For this work, he was awarded the State Prize for Literature in Baghdad in 2002 and the Tunisian Abu Al-Qassem Al-Shabi Award. Following its critical acclaim in the Arab world, it was translated into English

In 2002, his novel The Family's Winter (Arabic: شتاء العائلة) appeared, revisiting with the decay of the decline of Iraq's elite, but this time focusing on the aristocracy in the 1950s. That same year, he received Prize of Literary Creativity in the United Arab Emirates].

Following his work on The Family's Winter, Bader completed his 2003 novel entitled The Road to Mutran Hill. In it, he dealt with Iraqi social problems and the increasing division among its numerous segments, prophesying the disintegration of Iraq's already tattered socioeconomic fabric.

In 2004, he followed up with another novel, The Naked Feast (Arabic: الوليمة العارية), exploring the emergence of the Iraqi intelligentsia at the beginning of the 20th century. Bader's novel Tumult, Women and a Sunken Writer (2005) is his most popular piece that depicts the marginalized generation of Iraqi poets and novelists in the 1990s under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship and the international sanctions. One of the essays he published is called "Mid-night Maps", set during a journey to Iran, Turkey and Algeria, for which he was given the Ibn Battuta Prize for Contemporary Journeys. In 2006, Bader published his novel Jerusalem Lantern, a fictional portrayal of Edward Said.

In 2007 his novel Running after the Wolves, which highlights the Iraqi intellectuals who fled to Africa because of persecution under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship continued to increase his stature in Arab literary circles. In 2008, his novel the Tobacco keeper, highlighted the cultural life after the tumultuous events of 2003. At the center of the novel is the life of an Iraqi Jewish musician killed in Baghdad in 2006, and his struggle as an artist to integrate into Iraqi society. Critics welcomed the novel, resulting in its nomination for the Booker Arab Prize. In 2009, he published his novel titled Kings of the Sand about the conflict between Iraqi army and the inhabitants of desert, which was a bestseller in Arab book fairs. In 2010 he published Crime, Art, and Dictionary of Baghdad, a novel about the secremantal and philosophical schools in Abbasid era. Ali Bader has also written some non-fiction books, including Massignion in Baghdad (2005), Sleeping Prince and Waiting Campaign (2006), and Shahadat: Witnessing Iraq's Transformation after 2003 (2007) Adding to his awards for fiction writing, MNSG: Navigation between Home and Exile (2008) won Bader the Every Human Has Rights Media Award of 2008

In addition to fiction and non-fiction, he is a columnist in the Arabic newspapers, among them Al-Hayat, Al-Mada, Al-Dustour, Al-Riyadh. His journalism career has included rotations as a war correspondent.