Selim Matar

1. Imra’at al-Qârûra (The Woman of the Flask), 1990, 160 pages. This first book won the prize “Al-Naqed” of the best Arabic novel in 1990. It exists in several editions, both Iraqi and Arab. This novel has been very well received in the Arabic world and Selim MATAR has been named “companion of the Woman of the Flask”. This novel has been translated into French (La Femme à la Fiole) and in English (The Woman of the Flask).

3. I’tirâfât radjulin lâ yastahyî (literal translation: The Confessions of a Man without Shame), 2008, 160 pages. This is an autobiographical novel where the author evokes his life from his childhood and youth in Bagdad all the way through his arrival in Geneva and his life in Switzerland. Translated into the French version at Paris in 2011 (Bagdad-Genève, à la recherche d’une patrie, roman autobiographique). Several extracts from the book have been performed in a play.

5. Al-Irâq, saba’tu alâf ’âm min al-hayât (Iraq, 7000 Years of Living History, 2013, 260 pages). This important work combines history with reflection. It retraces different stages of Iraqi history, from the prehistoric era until the modern times, with some 500 interesting as well as useful photos, maps and numerical information.

1. Al-taw’am al-mafqûd (The Lost Twin), 2000, 200p, his second novel tells the wanderings of a young Iraqi exile who leaves Geneva in search of his “lost twin”.

5. Mashrû’ al-ihyâh al-watanî al-‘irâqî (The Project of the Rebirth of the Iraqi Nation), 2012, 150P.

2. Mawsû’ah al-madâ’in al’irâqiyyah (Encyclopaedia of Iraqi Cities), 2005: a work aimed at making known the geography and history of Iraqi provinces and their principal cities.

4. Mawsû’at Kirkuk qalb al-‘Irâq, (Encyclopaedia of Kirkûk, the Heart of Iraq), 2008: a work aimed at making known the province of Kirkuk, its history, as well as its geographic, demographic and cultural dimensions.

5. Mawsû’at al-lughât al-‘irâqiyyah (Encyclopaedia of Iraqi Languages), 2009: a contribution to the knowledge of all the languages that have flourished in Iraq, dead or living, as well as to the culture of communities that speak those languages.

6. Mawsû’at al-bî’ah al-‘irâqiyyah (Encyclopaedia of Iraqi Environment), 2010: a work aimed at bringing us information about the natural environment of Iraq and the serious ecological problems that the country has faced, in order to make us aware of the limitation of the factors of industrial and military destruction and pollution.

1. Khamsat alâf ‘âm min al-unûtha al-‘irâqiyyah (5000 Years of Iraqi Femininity), 2004: story of the Iraqi woman and presentation of eminent female personalities in ancient and contemporary Iraq.

3. Khamsat alâf ‘âm min al-tadayyun al-‘irâqî (5000 Years of Iraqi Religiosity), 2006: a work aimed at making known the different religions and confessions of Iraq, both antique and current.

4. Al-munazammât al-sirriyah (The Secret Societies), 2011, 160 pages. This book assembles information and develops a reflection on world secret societies and their role in the Middle East.

4. Yaqzat al-huwiyyah al-irâqiyya (The Awakening of Iraqi Identity) 2011 ;150P.

In 2004, Selim MATAR started to publish MESOPOTAMIA, a cultural journal devoted to the question of Iraqi identity, of which he is the chief editor. While publishing issues of this periodic, Selim MATAR also supervised the publication of numerous encyclopaedias (about 400 pages) of MESOPOTAMIA:

2. Djadal a-huwiyyât (The Debate of Identities), 2003, 300P:.

3. Al-Irâq al-djadîd wa-l-fikr al-djadîd, (The New Iraq and the New Thought) 2001, 200P.

The book that really founded this movement is Wounded Identity (1996, 500 pages, several Iraqi and Arab editions). This work has been studied in several Iraqi universities. The concept of identity is here explained and applied to the Iraqi case, as well as to the Near East and to the whole Arabic world, from a historical and political point of view.

2. Al-Dhât al-djarîha (Wounded Identity, 1996, 500 pages) is his first work of reflection and history. There he shows in detail, with numerous examples from history and philosophy, the concept of national identity and the problems of identity in Iraq as well as the Arabic world at large.

Selim Matar was born in 1956 in a family that immigrated to Baghdad from the south of Iraq. He becomes member of the Iraqi communist party and leaves his country at the end of 1978, after the failure of what is known as the “national confrontation” between the ruling party Baas and the communists. After three years of ceaseless wanderings in the Middle-East, he finally settles down in Geneva at the end of 1981. He studied at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, specializing in social sciences and research in the Third World.