Khalid Kishtainy

Khalid al-Kishtainy was an Iraqi writer and satirist living in London.

Life and career

Born in Baghdad, Kishtainy trained as a lawyer and artist, graduating in painting from Baghdad's Institute of Fine Arts in 1952 and gaining a law degree from the University of Baghdad in 1953. After the 1958 Iraq Revolution broke out he stopped teaching painting in Baghdad and moved to London to work for the BBC. From 1989 he wrote a daily satirical column in al-Sharq al-Awsat.
Kishtainy died on 3 June 2023, at the age of 93.

Works

Verdict in Absentia: A Study of the Palestine Case as represented to the Western World, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center, 1969Whither Israel? A Study of Zionist Expansionism, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center, 1970Palestine in Perspective, Palestine Liberation Organization, 1971The New Statesman and the Middle East, Palestine Research Center, 1972Social and Foreign Affairs in Iraq, 1979The Prostitute in Progressive Literature, Allison & Busby, 1982Arab Political Humour, Quartet Books, 1985; 1992Tales from Old Baghdad: Grandma and I, Routledge, 1997Tomorrow is Another Day: A Tale of Saddam’s Baghdad, Elliott & Thompson Ltd, 2003By the Rivers of Babylon, Quartet Books, 2008Arabian Tales: Baghdad-on-Thames, Quartet Books, 2011