Background
She was born and raised in Iraq.
She was born and raised in Iraq.
She graduated with a Bachelor from the University of Baghdad. She studied Near Eastern Studies and received her Master of Arts from Wayne State University.
Mikhail worked as Literary Editor, journalist, and translator for The Baghdad Observer. After having been questioned by Saddam Hussein"s government and facing increasing threats and harassment from the Iraqi authorities for her writings, Mikhail fled Iraq in 1996 going first to Jordan, then eventually to the United States, where she became a United States. citizen, got married and raised a daughter. In 2001, she was awarded the United Nations Human Rights Award for Freedom of Writing.
Mikhail speaks and writes in Arabic, Assyrian and English.
Her poetry has appeared in Poetry International, Modern Poetry in Translation, the London Times, as well as anthologies including World Beat: International Poetry Now from New Directions, Flowers of Flame: Unheard Voices of Iraq, and Iraqi Poetry Today: Modern Poetry in Translation. She currently lives in Michigan where she works as an Arabic instructor for Michigan State University.
