Chawki Abdelamir is French-Iraqi poet, writer and a former diplomat. In an illustrious writing career which began in 1979, he has published numerous collections of poetry and essays in Arabic, several of which have been translated into various languages, particularly French. He has translated major Arab authors and poets into French, including Adonis and French authors and poets into Arabic, including Guillevic.
In 2005, an anthology of his poetry, The Obelisk of Anail (L’Obélisque d’Anail), published by Mercure de France, was awarded the Max Jacob Prize for International Poetry.
He was the cultural adviser at the Embassy of South Yemen in Paris from 1977 to 1992, and then served as the director of the Yemeni Cultural Center in Paris. He was also the project director at the UNESCO Office in Beirut, responsible for book dissemination throughout the Arab world before becoming the Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq to UNESCO in Paris.
Since March 2024, he is the Director General of the Arab World Institute (Institut du Monde Arabe) in Paris.
He has been editor-in-chief of Bein Nahrein (Iraqi official literary weekly) in Baghdad while also being the editor-in-chief of Al Sabah, the official newspaper of the Iraqi government. He was also the founder and general supervisor of the pan-Arab literary newspaper Kitab fi Jarida, published under the auspices of UNESCO in Beirut. In 1993-1994, he was the co-director, with Christian Robin, of the French-language journal Saba, specializing in South Arabian civilization.
He was awarded the rank of Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture in 2023.
