Alia Mamdouh

Alia Mamdouh also spelled Aliyah Mamduh (born 1944 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi novelist, author and journalist living in exile in Paris, France. She won the 2004 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for her novel The Loved Ones. She is most known for her book Naphtalene, as it was widely acclaimed and translated.

After completing her degree in psychology from the University of Mustansiriya, while at the same time working as editor-in-chief of Al Rasid magazine and editor of al-Fikr al-mua’sir magazine, Mamdouh decided to move and live in Beirut, Morocco and finally settling in Paris.