I'm not much interested in prizes, whether from the Arab world or from the Western world. Writing is a very difficult process… — Hassan Blasim Arab world 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… — Hassan Blasim Areas 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… — Hassan Blasim Century 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… — Hassan Blasim Bits 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… — Hassan Blasim Children 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,… — Hassan Blasim Believe in god 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 Blood 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.… — Hassan Blasim Change 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… — Hassan Blasim Books Copy Share Image
The Iran-Iraq war began the same year that I went to primary school, at the age of six. — Hassan Blasim Age 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… — Hassan Blasim Anarchy Copy Share Image
"Secret migration" across borders is a form of human degradation and evidence of the depravity of the human conscience. — Hassan Blasim Borders Copy Share Image
“The operation would be in a week...I didn't know if I would survive. How I longed to go back to reading! There… — Hassan Blasim Books Copy Share Image
“I wanted to reach back to other times I might have lived in, the traces of which are scattered to places I… — Hassan Blasim Time Copy Share Image
I didn't start publishing literary texts until I had left Iraq. At the Academy [of Cinematic Arts] I was busy with short… — Hassan Blasim Academy Copy Share Image
In art class at school we learned how to draw tanks and soldiers opening fire at [Iranian leader Ayatollah] Khomeini and his… — Hassan Blasim All kinds Copy Share Image
One of the Baathists once told me, "If you're not careful, I'll have you put away," and those words meant death. — Hassan Blasim Careful Copy Share Image
All the children in the world, when they go to school, have the right to study in their mother tongue. But we… — Hassan Blasim Aliens Copy Share Image
“The dead, Your Honor, do not agonize over their crimes and do not long to be happy, as you know. If from… — Hassan Blasim Death Copy Share Image
I've been working on the margins and I was aware of this choice from the start. I buy most of what's written… — Hassan Blasim Arab world Copy Share Image
“It's bullshit what that bullshitter says. A story's a story, whether it's beautiful or bullshit.” — Hassan Blasim Copy Share Image
While I was studying film at the Academy, the problems started. I wasn't a political activist directly in the time of Saddam… — Hassan Blasim Academy Copy Share Image
I began writing and became attached to writing at an early age. I began by writing poetry and experimenting with dialogues: modest… — Hassan Blasim Age Copy Share Image
When my stories were translated into other languages and received good reviews in the international press and won prizes, some Arab festivals… — Hassan Blasim Festivals Copy Share Image
I studied at the Academy during the years of economic sanctions. Life was almost dead because the sanctions imposed on Iraq by… — Hassan Blasim Academy Copy Share Image
