Marwan Jubouri - Baghdad

The change that Iraq experienced after 2003 was not only political but also the other aspects of life that were marked by massive transformations that left its mark on them. Creativity was at the forefront of this battle for change.

The recent years witnessed the emergence of a new generation of novelists who presented their narratives and their vision of the Iraqi reality and the great change that afflicted it, including writers who presented works that dealt with the problems suffered by society in general and women in particular, and touched on various issues of passion and economic, social and political situation as well.

The literary critics' readings vary from those written by the young women. Despite the high demand for them in the book market, some describe them superficially and unrealistically. Some of them focus on the emotional side and imagine an atmosphere that may be far from the suffering of most Iraqis.

Tamara Shaker: We face difficulties in dealing with publishing houses and how to promote and market the book (Al Jazeera Net)

Social topics
Tamara Shaker is a young writer who has two collections of stories entitled "Wag Ghaf" and "The Nay Story", in which she discusses social issues of reality, customs and traditions that touch women, and other issues in the Arab and Iraqi streets in particular.

Tamara rejects the formula of "generalization" in the description of these works, considering that some of them are good and there are medium and bad as well, considering that what distinguishes these works is the smooth language and topics that address them, which are not limited to emotion only, as she put it.

She pointed out in her interview with Al Jazeera Net that the most difficult difficulties faced by her colleagues were in the publishing houses and dealing with them, and then in the way of promoting the book and marketing it, as the young writer almost bear these tasks entirely.

Jumana Excellent: Modern women's novels discuss the recent events that passed through Iraq and its reflection on society (Al Jazeera Net)

Different issues
Media and civil activist Jumana Mumtaz chose to enter the novel through her first work, "My Emancipation," which tells Al Jazeera Net that it discussed several issues, including family and community violence and migration, challenges that face young people and need answers. Compelling.

Jumana Mumtaz does not believe that the work of young female novelists is superficial. The issues discussed in each novel deal with the problems, experiences and concerns of the writer in her age, and the experiences and concerns of the 1920s are different from those of the 1940s.

As for the experiences of the expatriate narrators, Mumtaz believes that most of them are nostalgia, pain and alienation. The most prominent is Enaam Kaghi, who says she was influenced by her style, which she describes as "professional and stealing the heart." She has the ability to make the reader laugh or cry according to the events of her novels.

The novelist believes that the new novels depend on the specificity of the language in terms of narration and the use of graceful sentences, interesting and sometimes poetic.

The topics are not limited to emotional, but discuss the recent events that passed through Iraq, and its reflection on society such as political changes and civil war and sectarianism and internal displacement and the sense of loss and alienation.

The young novelist Shahad Al-Rawi won the first book award at the Edinburgh Festival, the capital of Scotland, for this year for her novel "Baghdad Hour", a controversial debate in Iraqi cultural circles, where many described the novel as "substandard" Expressing a model for a new generation that rebelled against traditional "rigid" methods.

The novel "I have delegated my mother to forget" a work of women focuses on the problems experienced by the Iraqi society (Al Jazeera Net)

The product is uneven
The literary critic Haneen al-Khalili believes that some young female dramatists were able to prove themselves in the cultural milieu, but the experience was not "as required." After the names of Latifia al-Dulaimi, Anam Kaghi and others in the past, the scene lacks experiences of such depth and influence.

She adds that many of the young female writers of Btn rely on the size of interaction in social networking sites as a criterion of influence and mass, or in battles with critics, and some may resort to the creation of enemies to surround themselves with the aura of "successful warrior of his community," as she put it.

But she refers to some of the young experiences that discussed important and central issues, such as the novel "Divided" by Huraa al-Nadawi, in which she spoke of the problem of the Faily Kurds and their suffering, as opposed to others who relied on "tickling adolescent emotions" with traditional love stories.

On the controversy caused by the victory of the writer Shahad Al-Rawi, Al-Khalili says that the subject was commercial and non-technical, and the criteria of these awards are based mostly on the number of editions and sales quantities more than content, where winning depends on the vote of the public not the opinion of specialized critics, On the prize.

The attack on young female narrators may be unrelated to their literary work, as with the narrator, whose attack on her character, community and social status has been violated, but this does not prevent a real critique of the work, as it lacks the ingredients of a mature novel.

Al-Khalili describes many modern women's novels as being dominated by the narratives of narration, in which details of the narration are reduced.