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Iraqi publisher Sotour has announced the release of a new edition of the 1928 novel Jalal Khalid by writer and journalist Mahmud Ahmed Al Sayyid. Its first edition is known to have signaled the evolution of Iraqi fiction during the 20th and 21st centuries by combining distinct narrative styles.
Since its publication in 1928, the novel has been circulated among its readers, critics, students, and others in its original edition with only a few copies available in public libraries. The book’s importance and steady popularity, promoted the publisher to bring out a new edition. This new edition will help document the art of Iraqi fiction and breathe new life into the genre of fiction.
Mahmud Ahmed Al Sayyid (1903-1937) is the pioneer of fiction in Iraq. Despite his short life, Al Sayyid travelled across Iraq, Turkey and India, acquiring expertise in writing and translation and informing himself of other literatures and cultures. In addition to Jalal Khalid, he has also written two novels, For the Sake of Marriage and The Fate of the Weak, and a collection of stories, Catastrophes.
