Saadi Yousef
atPEN World Voices, 2007
Native name	Arabic:سعدي يوسف
Born	1934 (1934) Abu Al-Khaseeb, Iraq
Died	13 June 2021(2021-06-13) (aged 86–87) London, England
Resting place	Highgate Cemetery
Language	Arabic
Genre	Poetry
Literary movement	Badr Shakir al-Sayyab,Shathel Taqa,Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayyati
Notable awards	Al Owais Prize
Website
www.saadiyousif.com/new

Saadi Youssef (Arabic:سعدي يوسف) (1934 – 13 June 2021)^[1] was an Iraqi author, poet, journalist, publisher, and political activist.^[2] He published thirty volumes of poetry in addition to seven books of prose.^[3]

Saadi Youssef studied Arabic literature inBaghdad.^[2] He was influenced by thefree verse ofShathel Taqa andAbd al-Wahhab Al-Bayyati and was also involved in politics from an early age. At that time, his work was heavily influenced by hissocialist andpan-Arab sympathies but has since also taken a more introspective, lyrical turn. He has also translated many well-known writers into Arabic, includingOktay Rifat,Melih Cevdet Anday,Garcia Lorca,Yiannis Ritsos,Walt Whitman andConstantine Cavafy. Following his exile from Iraq, Youssef has lived in many countries, including Algeria, Lebanon, France, Greece, Cyprus, and resided in London until his death.^[4]

In 2004, theAl Owais Prize for poetry was given to Youssef. In 2007, Youssef participated in thePEN World Voices festival where he was interviewed by theWild River Review. In 2014, Youssef's poems were forbidden from being included in the Kurdish school curriculum by theKurdistan Regional Government over a certain poem in which he referred to Kurdistan as "Qardistan," which loosely translates to "Monkey-istan."

He is buried on the eastern side ofHighgate Cemetery.

Published volumes

• Without an Alphabet, Without a Face: Selected Poems, translated byKhaled Mattawa (Graywolf, 2002).ISBN 1-55597-371-X.^[5]
• Nostalgia, My Enemy, translated bySinan Antoon and Peter Money (Graywolf, 2012).ISBN 978-1-55597-629-3.^[6]

In anthology

• Literature from the "Axis of Evil":Writing from Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Other Enemy Nations, edited byWords without Borders (The New Press, 2006).ISBN 978-1-59558-205-8.^[7]
• Tablet and Pen, edited byReza Aslan (Norton, 2010).ISBN 978-0-39306-585-5.^[8][9]
• Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology, edited by Melissa Tuckey (University of Georgia Press, 2018).ISBN 978-0820353159.^[10]

• Huri, Yair.The Poetry of Sa’di Yûsuf: Between Homeland and Exile. (Sussex, 2006).ISBN 978-1-84519-148-1.

• Iraqi art
• List of Iraqi artists

• Listen to Saadi Youssef reading his poetry - aBritish Library recording, 4 March 2009.
• 3 poems at theWayback Machine (archived 9 December 2007)
• Two poemsArchived 15 September 2015 at theWayback Machine
• Spiral of Iraqi memory review ofWithout an Alphabet atAl-Ahram
• Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef on 'bullet censorship'Archived 20 March 2013 at theWayback Machine atSocialist Worker

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