Huda Kadhem waits anxiously for feedback on her first novel, scrutinised by a book club in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Erbil, where young authors are breathing new life into a centuries-old oral culture. “This is the first time my book is being critiqued,” the 17-year-old first-year medical student said. “I learnt a lot about how to improve my writing and storytelling,” she said, adding that comments from other writers, readers and professors ...