Off The Grid with Luke Coleman - Our man in Iraq
From the quiet contemplation of camping in the mountains, and seething about journalistically bankrupt reporting on the BBC, to the majesty and solemnity of doing a report on Shia funeral rites from their holy (holiest) city of Najaf.
And on to Turkey for a weekend wedding, to here, Baghdad’s Cofee & Book [that’s how they spell it, ed, so you’re not to have a copy editing kitten]. Cofee & Book is a cafe in downtown Baghdad, Karrada district.
It was near here, almost two years ago, that ISIS committed one of its most shocking attacks. While Baghdadis enjoyed some Ramadan shopping, a suicide truck-bomb detonated, killing almost 400.
Today I’m here waiting for Ahmad Saadawi, the film maker, poet and novelist, a man who will discover in six days - so you’ll know by now, or have the knowledge a quick Goggle away - if his book Frankenstein In Baghdad has won the Man Booker International Prize.
I can’t compare it to the others on the shortlist, but I can tell you it’s a funny, tender, frightening and informative look at Ahmad’s home city a decade ago, when, like its monster, it was falling apart at the seams. As such, I give it five stars. I’ve just been given a five star rating too, and it won’t surprise you to learn that it was my debut perfect score. My taxi driver got five stars too, as we got to my destination without a common language.
And this is it - in a decade, Baghdad has gone from civil war to terrorist attacks a couple of years ago, to an election this weekend without major incident.
And to me, taxiing around the city on my own, interviewing authors and playing pool in the wee small hours. There are hushed hopes of tourism making up part of the economy in the Iraq’s new chapter. Am I getting drawn back in again?
