In Iraqi Kurdistan, book clubs and science fiction offer 'escape'

Members of a book club meet to review a novel at a book store in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Photo: AFP

Huda Kathem waits anxiously for feedback on her first novel, scrutinised by a book club in Iraqi Kurdistan's Arbil, where young authors are breathing new life into a centuries-old oral culture.

"This is the first time my book is being critiqued," said the 17-year-old first-year medical student.