How Sci-Fi Writers Imagine Iraq’s Future

Jason Heller writes for The Atlantic:

Speculative fiction from around the world has been gaining significant traction in the U.S. in recent years. Nordic sci-fi novels such as The Core of the Sun and Amatka—by Johanna Sinisalo and Karin Tidbeck, respectively—have been published in the States by the likes of Grove Atlantic and Vintage. Meanwhile, China’s Liu Cixin became the first Asian author to win a coveted Hugo Award for Best Novel, thanks to his staggering sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem, which the publisher Tor Books brought to the U.S. in 2014. These books have expanded the vistas of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, genres that have long needed a plurality of voices when it comes to race, religion, gender, sexuality, and culture. Still, it’s been an uphill battle, thanks to the usual hurdles of translation, economics, and cultural differences. Iraq is one of the many countries that remain underrepresented in the U.S. when it comes to speculative fiction—although Tor aims to help rectify that with their publication in September of Iraq + 100.

Edited by the writer, filmmaker, and Iraqi expatriate Hassan Blasim, Iraq + 100bills itself as “the first anthology of science fiction to have emerged from Iraq.” It comprises 10 short stories written by Iraqis, all of whom were guided by a simple yet fertile premise: What might Iraq look like a century from now? The book is appearing in the U.S. for the first time since its initial publication in 2016. Blasim, a native of Baghdad, began assembling it in his adopted Finland after having spent years as a political refugee due to his work’s criticism of Saddam Hussein’s regime.