Life & contribution
Baghdad-born Arabic-language novelist and short-story writer whose work preserved Iraqi Jewish speech, memory and social worlds in literary form.
Detailed biography & historical context
Baghdad-born Arabic-language novelist and short-story writer whose work preserved Iraqi Jewish speech, memory and social worlds in literary form.
The documented record currently assembled for Samir Naqqash includes the following: Born in Baghdad in 1938 and left Iraq in 1951; he later studied Arabic and Persian literature at the Hebrew University. Unlike many Iraqi Jewish writers in Israel, he continued writing fiction primarily in Arabic and preserved Baghdadi dialects, voices and social worlds in his work.
This figure is important to the literary history of Iraqi Jews because writing became a way to preserve language, memory and the experience of belonging to Iraq before and after migration. The record also shows the continuing relationship between Arabic, Hebrew and diaspora literary cultures.
Archive classification: Literature. Recorded life dates/status: 1938–2004.
This profile synthesizes the documentary sources listed below; where the record is limited or contested, the dossier avoids unsupported detail.
Additional documented context
- Born in Baghdad in 1938 and left Iraq in 1951; he later studied Arabic and Persian literature at the Hebrew University.
- Unlike many Iraqi Jewish writers in Israel, he continued writing fiction primarily in Arabic and preserved Baghdadi dialects, voices and social worlds in his work.
Documentary references
Additional biographical details are tied to the source records below.
Permanent ID · IJHDA-PER-0034
This biographical figure record is integrated into Discover Jewish Iraq from the Virtual Embassy’s Iraqi Jewish heritage collection.