An Iraqi writer highly respected in the Arab world, Al-Azzawi was born in 1940 and holds a BA in English literature from Baghdad University, Iraq, and a PhD in cultural journalism at Leipzig University, Germany. Al-Azzawi has published seven volumes of poetry, six novels, three books of criticism and memoir, and several translations of German literary works. He participated in Iraq's avant-garde Sixties Generation, and his early controversial work was lauded with great enthusiasm. He also founded the poetry magazine Shi’r 69.