Ali Ja'far al-Allaq

Ali Ja'far al-Allaq (علي جعفر العلاق;1945) is an Iraqi poet, literary critic and academic. He graduated from the universities of Al-Mustansiriya in 1973, and Exeter in 1984. He held many administrative and academic positions, and wrote several collections of poetry and important critical studies, which had an important role in the modern Iraqi poetic movement.

Biography
Ali Ja'far al-Allaq was born in Kut, Wasit in 1945. He completed his secondary education in Baghdad, received his BA in Arabic literature from Al-Mustansiriya University in 1973, and doctorate in criticism and modern literature from the University of Exeter in Britain, 1984.

During his academic career, he worked as a teacher at Al-Mustansiriya University and Baghdad University from 1985 to 1991, Sana'a University 1991-1997, and United Arab Emirates University 1997-2015. He worked in literary journalism as an editor in the  Al-Aqdam al-Adabiyah  magazine since 1970, then worked as a secretary for the magazine Al-Aqdam in 1978, and  its editor-in-chief from 1984 to 1990. He has written many researches and critical articles in newspapers, in Arabic and English. He also served as Director of Theaters and Folklore for the Ministry of Culture in Iraq, 1976-1978. A member of The General Union of Arab Writers, the Union of Iraqi Writers and the Association of Literary Critics in Iraq, he has participated in many cultural and poetry festivals in Arab countries, Britain, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.

Works
A collection poetic works of Allaq were published in 1998 by Arab Institute for Research and Publishing in Beirut, then in 2014 in two volums by Dar Fada'at, Amman. Among his poetry collections, are: Literary criticism: Collaborative writings: in English Others books:
 * لا شيء يحدث .. لا أحد يجيء, 1973
 * وطن لطيور الماء, 1975
 * شجرة العائلة, 1979
 * فاكهة الماضي, 1987
 * أيام آدم, 1993
 * ممالك ضائعـة, 1999
 * سيد الوحشتين, 2006
 * هكذا قلت للريح, 2008
 * عشبة الوهــــم: قصائد مختارة, 2010
 * ذاهـبٌ لاصطياد الندى, 2011
 * نـداء البـدايـات, 2013.
 * حتى يفيض الحصى بالكلام, 2013
 * وطن يتهجى المطر, 2015
 * طائرٌ يتعثرُ بالضوء, 2018
 * فراشات لتبديد الوحشة, 2021
 * قصائد المختارة من شعراء الطليعة العربية, 1977
 * ممكلة الغجر, 1981
 * دماء القصيدة الحديثة, 1989
 * في حداثة النص الشعري, 1990
 * الشعر والتلقي, 1997
 * قبيلـة من الأنهـار: الذات، الآخـر، النص, 2008
 * هاهي الغابة فأين الأشجار؟,2008
 * من نصّ الأسطورة الى أسطورة النصّ, 2010
 * في مديح النصوص: قراءات نقدية حميمة, 2013
 * الدلالة المرئية، قراءات في شعرية القصيدة الحديثة, 2013
 * الحلم والوعي والقصيدة : مقالات في الشعر وما يجاوره, 2018
 * المعنى المراوغ : قراءات في شعرية النص, 2020
 * الشريف الرضي, 1985
 * أشكال القصيدة العربية, 1988
 * دراسات عن الشعر العربي, 1995
 * عالم غالب هلسا, 1996
 * الشعر العربي في نهاية القرن, 1997
 * Poems, 1988
 * Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Language and Literature, 1996
 * إلى أين أيتها القصيدة, autobiography, 2022