Basrayatha: The Story of a City

<i>Basrayatha</i> is a literary tribute by author Muhammad Khudayyir to the city of his birth Basra on the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq.<br>Just as a city’s inhabitants differ from outsiders through their knowledge of its streets and stories so Khudayyir distinguishes between the real city of Basra and the imagined city he created through stories experiences and folklore. By turns a memoir a travelog a love letter and a meditation Basrayatha summons up a city long gone yet which lives on in the memories and imaginations of its people. In the tradition of Calvino and Borges Khudayyir’s mesmerizing work itself illuminates and enriches the story of this magnificent city.