After decades of war and some of the most brutal urban warfare in modern history, the Anqaa (Phoenix Cultural Club is growing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. This is a reading club that meets in the basement of the Mosul Heritage Foundation, where the participants recite poetry, debate philosophy, and discuss literature. Historically Mosul has had strong ties to the “Golden Age of Islam” (790 to 1258 AD) which made great contributions in literature, philosophy, science, medicine, mathematics, and art.
Thirty-year-old Mohamed al-Arab has been attending the Anqaa club meetings since its founding and said, “We are trying our best to maintain the city’s literary heritage so we can pass it on to the next generations,” according to The Guardian. In June Mosul held its first four day poetry festival in order to strengthen the city’s connection to its historic classical tradition. Mosul may have been occupied by the American military or ISIS militants, but only poetry has ever truly captured this city.
During the occupation by the Islamic State in 2015, militants burned 100,000 books from Mosul’s central library, destroyed cultural sites, and banned literary events, the arts, and even sports. Ironically, during this period, poetry and literature became a survival tactic and not just a pastime for the residents of Mosul. In 2022 Wifaq Ahmed, a civil engineer consultant to UNESCO on preserving the city’s heritage, founded the Anqaa club. “People want the city to rise again,” says Ahmed. “Writing is the simplest weapon people have to save our identity [and] history, and restore social cohesion. We have a lot of people fighting to regain their lives and build new steps for the future.” Dr. Waleed al-Saraaf, a retired surgeon said, “Poetry is important in Mosul, because otherwise people will not understand what happened. Poetry goes beyond destroyed buildings—it reaches the depths of the human soul. Only the heart can see it, and this is the job of the poet.” The first meetings of the Anqaa club only had four people attending; more recently they have had 50 people, but they are planning to have 500 attendees in the near future.
