Alaa Al-Musalli grew up in Iraq and witnessed the wars described in her debut novel, The Age of Silence. She earned an MA in English and Linguistics at Baghdad University and a PhD in Linguistics at Bangor University in Wales, UK. She is also a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s Writers’ Studio program. Al-Musalli currently teaches at Capilano University and lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Fiction
The Age of Silence
Winnipeg: At Bay Press, 2026.
Publisher’s Synopsis
The Age of Silence is a family saga, antiwar tribute to mothers in war zones based on real events set in Baghdad during the Iraqi-Iranian War and the Gulf War. Living between the hammer and the anvil of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq, with a son missing in battle and a huge fortune tearing her family apart, Bedria fights a battle in her own home that she cannot win. This story takes you behind the closed doors of a household in a war zone to tell how one mother struggles to keep her family together while confined by the silence the regime and culture imposed on her. It is about a tumultuous time in Iraq, money wars, siblings rivalry, ego, and a legacy of love and forgiveness that a mother left behind. This book is a tribute to the silent warriors in all war zones―the mothers.
Links
Alaa Al-Musalli faculty page at Capilano University
Publisher At Bay Press
Alaa Al-Musalli interview by Mandy Bayrami for All Lit Up, 13 October 2026