When my stories were translated into other languages and received good reviews in the international press and won prizes, some Arab festivals and newspapers began to take an interest in what I had produced. This sudden Arab interest is a… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
My stories were translated and had many reviews before I had an interview with any international or Arab newspaper. If the stories hadn't succeeded, you wouldn't have asked me my position on Arab festivals and I wouldn't have been interested… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
I'm not much interested in prizes, whether from the Arab world or from the Western world. Writing is a very difficult process and I… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
We used to watch executions. I mentioned that in one of my stories. There was a piece of open ground near the area where… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
It's ridiculous and painful to use the Arabic of an Iraqi poet who lived centuries ago to describe what we in Iraq are suffering… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
The trail of "secret migration" was a shock to me. I knew a little about the difficulties, just bits of news in the media. — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
How can one talk in a classical language about a child who's torn apart in an explosion in the market near his school? People… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
“...I believe in dreams more than I believe in God. Dreams get into you and leave, then come back with new fruit, but God… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
I'm talking about the essence of humanity. Hope is mixed into the blood of every human being, everywhere and in every time. — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
“On more than one occasion I heard how life apparently advances, moves on, sets sail or, at worst, apparently crawls slowly forward. My life,… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
“The pleasure I found in reading books was disconcerting...I felt anxious about every new piece of information. I would latch onto one particular detail… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
The Iran-Iraq war began the same year that I went to primary school, at the age of six. — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
Some Iraqi writers are more daring today and have excellent imaginations and their material is rich in human experience. But the Arab prizes, once… — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
"Secret migration" across borders is a form of human degradation and evidence of the depravity of the human conscience. — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
