- Source: Qusay al-Shaykh Askar
Qusay Abd al-Ra'uf Askar, commonly known as Qusay al-Shaykh Askar (Arabic: قصي الشيخ عسكر, romanized: Quṣayy al-Shaykh ʻAskar;1951) is an Iraqi-Danish novelist, poet and literary scholar. His first poetry collection was published in 1983 and his first novel in 1985, since then he has created many fictional works.
Biography
Qusay Abd al-Ra'uf Askar was born in village of Nahr Jasim, Shatt Al-Arab District, east of Basra, Kingdom of Iraq in 1951. His family name derived from his grandfather first name, Askar, plus a title of honor, Sheikh, since he was the first imam of the Iraqi army at the beginning of its establishment in the 1920. He studied primary school in Shatt al-Arab and secondary school in al-Ashar, Basra. He received a BA in Arabic literature from Basra University, Department of Arabic Language, 1973–1984, and a MA in Arabic literature from Damascus University, 1984. Then he obtained PhD from the Islamic College, London, in 2004.
He taught in the secondary schools of Iraq, Morocco and Libya. Worked as a reporter for Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, then emigrated to Denmark from Ba'athist Iraq. He worked as a broadcaster and program presenter for the Danish television, the Arabic section.
He taught English at Cambridge Institute in Copenhagen for five years, and Danish language in schools of Denmark for three years. He held Iraqi citizenship then became a naturalized citizen of Denmark, and settled in Hellerup, then moved to Nottingham, United Kingdom, late 2000s. In Denmark, Al-Shaykh Askar founded the Arab Writers Union of Scandinavia and was chosen to head the union.
Fiction
Iraqi academic and literary critic, Najm Kazim, in March 2017 published a list of the 100 best Iraqi novels of the twentieth century based on his “personal perception as a result of his long work in the field of literary criticism.” He placed three novels of Al-Shaykh Askar among them. Al-Shaykh Askar once stated that "In fact, what interests me without hesitation is Russian realism. Then I refrained from it and moved on to romanticism."
Works
Novels:
Arabic: المعبر, romanized: al-Maʻbar, 1985
Arabic: سيرة رجل في التحولات الأولى, romanized: Sirat rajul fı̄ al-taḥawwulāt al-ūlá, 1986
Arabic: المكتب, romanized: al-Maktab, 1989
Arabic: شيء ما في المستنقع, romanized: Shayʼ mā fī al-mustanqaʻ, 1991
Arabic: للحمار ذيل واحد لاذيلان, romanized: Lil-ḥimār dhayl wāḥid lā dhaylān, 1992
Arabic: الشمس تقتحم مدينة الثلوج, romanized: al-Shams taqtaḥimu madīnat al-thulūj, 1993
Arabic: المختار, romanized: al-Mukhtar, 1993
Arabic: امرأة بستة أزواج - شهريار يهاجر للصمت المباح, romanized: Imra'ah bi-sittat azwāj ;Shahryār yuhājir lil-ṣamt al-mubāḥ, 1995
Arabic: التجربه؛ النفق؛ الموتى يزحفون, romanized: al-Tajribah ;al-Nafaq ;al-Mawtá yazḥafūn, 1995
Arabic: آخر رحلة للسندباد وروايات أخرى, romanized: Ākhir riḥlah lil-Sindabād wa-riwāyāt ukhrá, 1995
Arabic: نهر جاسم, romanized: Nahr Jāsim, 2004
Arabic: روايات وقصص من الخيال العلمي, romanized: riwāyāt wa-qiṣaṣ min al-khayāl al-ʻilmī, 2010
Arabic: وأقبل الخريف مبكراً هذا العام, romanized: Wa-aqbala al-kharīf mubakkiran hadhā al-ʻām, 2011
Arabic: من تنومتي يطلع القمر, romanized: Min tannūmati yaṭlaʻu al-qamar, 2013
Arabic: المقصف الملكي, romanized: al-Maqṣaf al-malakī, 2013
Arabic: الحبل والنار التي تسري, romanized: al-Ḥabl wa-al-nār allatī tasari, 2013
Arabic: الثامنة والنصف مساءً, romanized: al-Thāminah wa-al-niṣf masāʼan, 2014
Arabic: رسالة, romanized: Risalah, 2016
Arabic: الرباط, romanized: al-Rabāṭ, 2017
Arabic: قصة عائلة, romanized: Qiṣṣat ʻāʼilah, 2018
Arabic: ربيع التنومة, romanized: Rabīʻ al-Tannūmah, 2019
Arabic: زيزفون البحر, romanized: Zayzafūn al-baḥr, 2019
Arabic: علاء الدين, romanized: ʻAlāʼ al-Dīn, 2020
Arabic: أنا والشبيه, romanized: Anā wa-al-shabīh, 2021
Arabic: كورونا, romanized: Kūrūnā, 2021
Arabic: النهر يلقي إليك بحجر, romanized: al-Nahr yulqī ilayka bi-ḥajar, 2021
Poetry collection:
Arabic: رؤية, romanized: Ruʼyah, 1983
Arabic: صيف العطور الخرساء, romanized: Ṣayf al-ʻuṭūr al-kharsāʼ, 1985
Arabic: عبير المرايا, romanized: ʻAbı̄r al-marāyā, 1985
Arabic: رحلة الشمس والقمر, romanized: Riḥlat al-shams wa-al-qamar, 2002
Arabic: الديوان الرشيق, romanized: al-Dīwān al-rashīq, 2019
Other genres:
Arabic: المعجزة, romanized: al-Mu'jizah, short story collection
Literary studies:
Arabic: البلاغة في تعاريف القدماء, romanized: Al-balāghah fī taʻārīf al-qudamāʼ, 1988
Arabic: الحسن بن وهب، حياته، مقالاته، رسائله، شعره, lit. 'al-Ḥasan ibn Wahb : ḥayātuhu, maqālātuhu, rasāʼiluhu, shiʻruh', 1988
Arabic: النجاشي، شاعر صفين, romanized: al-Najāshī : shāʻir ṣaffayn, 1988
Arabic: قيم جمالية في نهج البلاغة, 1988
Arabic: مفاهيم اقتصادية في نهج البلاغة, 1988
Arabic: التشبيه والاستعارة في نهج البلاغة, 1988
Arabic: الأسلوب القصصي في نهج البلاغة, 1988
Arabic: الاغتراب في نهج البلاغة, 1989
Arabic: الأساطير العربية قبل الإسلام وعلاقتها بالديانات القديمة, romanized: Asāṭīr al-ʻArabīyah qabla al-Islām wa-ʻalāqatuhā bi-al-diyānāt al-qadīmah, 2007
Arabic: معجم الأساطير والحكايات الخرافية الجاهلية, romanized: Muʻjam al-asāṭīr wa-al-ḥikāyāt al-khurāfīyah al-Jāhilīyah, 2014
