Shawqi Abdul Amir

Shawqi Abdul Amir (born 12 September 1949) is an Iraqi poet and former diplomat. Born in Nassiriyah, he received his master's degree in comparative literature from the Sorbonne in 1974. He worked as a teacher in Algeria, joined journalism and cultural affairs and worked as a press consultant at the South Yemen Embassy in Paris and been director of the Yemeni Cultural Center in Paris since 1991. He founded Kitâb fî Jarîda in 1995 to make literature freely available to individuals and households across the Arab world, particularly those who lack the financial means to buy books.