Friday, October 13, 2006

Iraq's internet writers

Fayrouz has a short post pointing to a cluster of books emerging by English-speaking bloggers from Iraq. As she says, "...not bad for a small and young blogsphere."

Those of us who read this material first-hand as it was/is being produced will see published books as old news. But there is a population of readers for whom these books can bring to life a human dimension of this terrible war that seems to have been overshadowed by bigger stories.

I consider my copy of Abu Khaleel's book a personal treasure. And it gives me great satisfaction to know that Riverbend and Najma are being recognized outside the blog world as well. These are primary sources that in years to come will stand as vivid reminders that the Iraq war and occupation was not conducted without at least a few small voices crying out "Stop. Please stop. You are really making a mess of things. There has to be a better way. How can civilized conversation be made in the midst of war?"

Thanks, Fayfouz for your good reporting. Have you thought about publishing your own? Your's would also make very informative reading.

1 comment:

Fayrouz said...

Hi Hoots,

Nope, I have no plans to publish any books. That's too much for me.

I barely find the time to blog :-(