Photo of Naïm Kattan courtesy of Guernica Editions

Naïm Kattan, a Jewish Iraqi writer who lived in Montreal for decades, passed away earlier this month at the age of 92.

Born in Baghdad in 1928, Kattan emigrated to Montreal in 1954. He wrote no fewer than 32 books during his time here, all initially published in French. His 1975 memoir, Farewell, Babylon: Coming of Age in Jewish Baghdad (now out of print) was translated by Sheila Fischman for a 1976 English edition that was reprinted in 2005 (read our review by Mary Soderstrom). His novel Farida, published in French in 1991, was issued by Guernica Editions in 2015 in an English translation by Professor Norman Cornett and Antonio D’Alfonso.

Kattan’s prolific output means that “his literary corpus now stands as one of the most substantial in the history of Canadian literature,” argues Prof. Cornett, who calls Kattan “a key cultural figure who tirelessly bridged the solitudes between Anglophones and Francophones, between Jews and Gentiles.”

Prof. Cornett adds, “His correspondence most certainly constitutes a treasure trove for future researchers who wish to understand the origins and dynamics of interculturalism, which he practised before the word even existed.”

Kattan, who, in addition to his literary career, also worked for the Canada Council for the Arts, was appointed to both the Order of Canada and the National Order of Quebec. Kattan died in Paris, where he’d been living for the past two years, but as Prof. Cornett points out, “He insisted that his burial take place in Montreal.”mRb