An Iraqi poet, born in Baghdad and received his academic education in Copenhagen, where he has lived since 1984. He has edited and published numerous manuscripts of Erotica, including The Perfumed Garden and A Promenade of the Hearts, and The Forbidden Texts. This infuriated some religious and political establishments around the Arab World, resulting in the confiscation and banning of these books in Arab countries.

He has published collections of poetry, including Book of the Book (1990), A Handshake in the Dark (1995), and Diary of the Sleepwalker (1998). He has been translated into Danish, English, Swedish, French, German, Persian, Turkish, Tamil and other languages.