Interview by Hala Fattah, PhD.
Independent Scholar
Amman, Jordan
2/10/2025

Basically my questions revolve around the path you took as an industrialist’s daughter who chose French over commerce and who became a writer in spite of your father’s concentration on managing his factories. And yet, at a later stage -after your father’s passing - you became what I guess he always wanted you to be, a self-sufficient businesswoman. And now you’re back to your literary roots, even though you haven’t completely given up your commercial enterprise. So you have become a complete person who can handle anything in life and can write about it as well! 

I wouldn’t say I have become a complete person, but I thrive on becoming a balanced human being. Imagine being around a father who keeps saying, “When are you going to grow up in order to help me with the business?”, while my mother was constantly telling me, “You can be anyone and anything you want to be, just keep dreaming”. My left side of the brain had to shake hands with the right side on a daily basis to keep my resilience.

Did these transformations in your life create a struggle in your psyche or do you see your many pursuits - literary and commercial - as both sides to your integrated personality?

It was a roller-coaster. My role models varied between my father who could add and subtract without using a calculator, and my mother who had a photographic memory and thought introducing me to her Encyclopædia Britannica was a fun activity. For me, an integrated personality was as follows: instead of choosing ‘either or’, I went for ‘mix and match’. But I must say that this struggle gave me a deep insight into the clash of cultures where no one is right or wrong. By explaining to my mother the context, signs, symbols and undertones of the Iraqi community’s interactions, I suppose I formed an early understating of tolerance and acceptance where everything becomes a matter of perspective.

What about the French connection? 

One day, I was around ten, when my mother, out of the blue, started speaking in French with a new Swiss neighbor. I remember thinking, who is this whole other person that is coming out of my mother’s mouth! Later on, I was inspired by a cousin who studied at  L'Alliance Française and another who worked at L'Oréal which sounded magical. And of course Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther started the first spark. I really enjoyed every moment of studying this magnificent language and I regret not using it much along the years, but I’m delighted when I can still communicate and feel another layer of bonding.

Now you’re back to your literary roots, even though you haven’t completely given up your commercial enterprise.

I worked in my father’s food business for twenty years but, as grateful as I am for his journey, I could not imagine myself selling jelly, custard and chips for the rest of my life. This passion for the written word kept pulling me away like a magnet. Eventually, I left the family partnerships and went solo. I enjoy working in real estate. I divide my time between management and writing; so now I have two jobs; one that makes money, and one that makes sense.

How did your personality become integrated anyway! It couldn’t have been easy. How do you fight popular stereotypes of women who try to do it all without getting defensive?

 I had my fair share of male figures trying to bring me down. Between a university friend who told me that my writing was not even fit for a cook book, and a family member who wanted to take me to court claiming I harmed the clan’s name with my first novel, it was a tricky balancing act for me. The traditional housewives also took a bash at me, wondering why I wasn’t able to settle down in a marriage and have children. Ironically, their daughters look up to me and I find that adorable.

By the way, when you try to do it all, you have to give something up in return.

I’m not saying that you pay a price in a negative way, because being driven has it’s rewarding moments, although the process can be exhausting. I was a wee bit of a rebel in my childhood  and I had to keep pushing to earn this title into adulthood. The secret for me was to hang onto my child’s eye and follow my instinct. 

Especially from well-meaning family members who belong to the older generation and feel they’re your guardians now that you’re single and without parents?

Speaking of the older generation, looking back, as a little girl, I was so weak in math, my father called me ‘donkey’; this is the Iraqi way of encouraging me! I say this jokingly because I understand how difficult it was for them growing up. They were a self-made tough generation, and when it came to teaching their children the ‘right way’, nothing was good enough. For example, my father used to give me ten tasks to complete on a given day, knowing that he wanted only, say, four of them done, so when he ticked off four boxes,  he got what he wanted whereas I felt I was falling short, let alone that feeling of guilt that no matter what you do it is never up to their standard. They raised the bar so high your head had to point up towards the sky.

On the other hand, I admire what they instilled in me. I learnt the value of discipline. I rarely get bored of following the same daily work routine. Most days I work from home, but I would never stay in my pajamas with my hair loose. Dressing for the job, pacing myself with the alarm clock and setting goals, keeps me focused.  I suppose I’m a creature of habit, but this led to the understanding that it’s the little tasks, when accumulated, are the building blocks for achieving the final outcome. I remind myself that it is blessing to have a clear vision of how you want your life to be, but to reach the clouds I need solid psychological wood to build the ladder to get there.

Does it matter? And how does this avant-garde life figure in your literary works? How does society bear upon your works? Every work of literature has to have a social context or it’s hollow.

Ah, the golden question; ‘Does it matter?’ This is a vast playground in the middle of which is a seesaw of flexibility and resilience.

It does not matter when others do not respect my path in life. They might criticize, ridicule, or try to shame me, but I do not resist. I merely respond by soaking up their behavior and use the material for characterization in my next writing project.

At the same time, it does matter, when it comes to creating contrast. When people react, positively or negatively, everything pours into my endeavor to paint portraits for my work. First I absorb the shock then I pull out my canvas. The colours of human nature are fascinating.

As for what you call ‘Avant-garde’, I call ‘Homage’ to all writers on this planet since the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. My humble work is just an extension of this universal dialogue. I must say, when I pick up my pen and open a white page, I still fell I feel like a cheeky little girl experimenting on paper. Fast forward; when students and young aspiring writers around the world thank me for motivating them to speak their mind; that’s my ‘Bingo!’

‘Absent’ takes a journey from novel to play. I believe it is the first time an Iraqi novel goes on stage in English in London.

All credit goes to playwrite Penny Black and director Svetlana Dimcovic. Ten years ago, Penny offered to adapt the novel into a play. Firstly, we worked remotely on a full cast long version of the script. Our busy schedules kept us from completing it, so Svetlana invited us to Belgrade to wrap it up. By the time it was ready, Covid hit and it came to a halt. Then Penny and Svetlana annouced that they would not give up, and the focus became on re-adapting it into a one woman show which took another few years. Finally, this November, it will premiere at the Voila festival at Barons Court theatre in London. There I will celebrate turning sixty! only to realize, once more, it’s never too late to chase your dreams.