Mikhail, Dunya 1965- (Dunya Mikha'il)

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Mikhail, Dunya 1965- (Dunyā Mikhā'il)

PERSONAL:

Born March 19, 1965, in Baghdad, Iraq; daughter of Mikhail Hanna (a restaurant manager) and Khatoun Abro (a homemaker) Korkis; married Mazin Hanna (a psychologist), June 14, 2000; children: Larsa. Ethnicity: "Iraqi." Education: University of Baghdad, B.A.; Wayne State University, M.A. Religion: Christian.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Sterling Heights, MI. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Baghdad Observer, Baghdad, Iraq, journalist and translator, 1988-95; Al-Mashriq (newspaper), Amman, Jordan, journalist, 1995-96; Dearborn Public Schools, Dearborn, MI, teacher, 2001—. Iraqi American Center, Madison Heights, MI, program director, 2004-05.

MEMBER:

PEN American Center.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Human Rights Award for Freedom in Writing, United Nations, 2001; PEN Translation Award, for The War Works Hard; The War Works Hard was cited one of the best books of 2005 by the New York Public Library.

WRITINGS:

The Psalms of Absence (poetry), Al-Adeeb Press, 1993.

(And translator from Arabic) Diary of a Wave outside the Sea, edited by Louise I. Hartung, Dar-Al-Shoun (Baghdad, Iraq), 1995, 2nd edition, Ishtar Publishing House (Cairo, Egypt), 1999.

Almost Music (poetry), Dar Nuqoush Arabiya, 1997.

The War Works Hard (poetry), translated by Elizabeth Winslow, introduction by Saadi Simawe, New Directions (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to collections, including Le poème arabe moderne, The Post-Gibran Anthology of New Arab-American Writing, Iraqi Poetry Today, New Arab Poetry, and The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology. Contributor to periodicals, including Poetry International, Circumference, Pen American, and Modern Poetry in Translation.

SIDELIGHTS:

Born in Iraq, Dunya Mikhail fled to the United States in the mid-1990s due to harassment from the local authorities. She is now a well-known and respected poet in her native country and the author of several collections of poetry. Her poetry is known for its subversive themes and satirical, innovative tone, and often incorporates the tragedy and inhumanity she witnessed in her homeland. A contributor for Publishers Weekly wrote of The War Works Hard: "Stark and poignant, Mikhail's poems give voice to an often buried, glossed-over or spun grief." Sadiq Alkoriji, in a review for Library Journal, felt that in Mikhail's poetry "she employs a direct language devoid of complicated imagery."