Faleeha Hassan is a black Iraqi author born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1967, who currently lives in the United States. Read More  She earned an MA in Arabic literature and has published several collections of poetry in Arabic: Being a Girl, A Visit to the Museum of Shade, Five Titles for My Friend—The Sea, Though Later On, Poems to Mother, Gardenia Perfume, and a collection of children’s poetry, The Guardian of Dreams. Her works of Arabic prose include Hazinia or Shortage of Joy Cells and Water Freckles (a novella). Her poems have been translated into English, Italian, German, French, and Kurdish, and she has received awards from the Arab Linguists and Translators Association (WATA) and the Najafi Creative Festival for 2012, as well as the Naziq al-Malaika Prize, the al-Mu’tamar Prize for poetry, and the Shaheed al-Mihrab Foundation’s short story prize. She serves on the boards of Baniqya, a quarterly in Najaf; Sada al Nahrain (Echo of Mesopotamia); and the Iraqi Writers in Najaf association. She is a member of the Iraq Literary Women’s Association, The Sinonu (i.e., Swift) Association in Denmark, the Society of Poets Beyond Limits, and Poets of the World Community.