Hayat Sharara

{{Short description|Iraqi writer, translator and educator (1935 – 1997)}}

Hayat Sharara (1935 – August 1, 1997) was an Iraqi writer, translator and educator.

{{Infobox person

| name =

| image = Hayat-sharara.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{circa|1935}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1997|08|01|1935|}}

| death_place =

| nationality =

| other_names =

| occupation =

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

She was born in Najaf. Her family moved to Baghdad in the mid-1940s. Sharara graduated from high school and completed her baccalaureate but could not attend Baghdad University because she was unable to obtain the necessary certificate of good conduct due to her political activism. She was told that she must join the Ba'ath Party if she wished to keep her university job. After she refused, she was transferred to a job as an interpreter for the Ministry of Industry.{{cite web |url=https://www.banipal.co.uk/contributors/1212/%20hayat-sharara-1935%E2%80%931997/ |title=Hayat Sharara (1935–1997) |work=Banipal 63 |date=Autumn–Winter 2018}}

She committed suicide in 1997 "to protest the intervention of Baathist intelligence services in university life in Baghdad, and also protest against the economic embargo imposed on Iraq after the first Gulf War". Her daughter Maha committed suicide at the same time.

Her semi-autobiographical novel Idha al-Ayyam Aghsaqat ("When darkness falls"), which she completed shortly before her death, was published posthumously in 2000.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aps1ruOW0_EC&pg=PA127 |title=Citizenship and Ethnic Conflict: Challenging the Nation-state |page=127 |first=Haldun |last=Gülalp |year=2006 |isbn=0415368979}}{{Cite journal |last=Abou Rached |first=Ruth |date=2023-03-01 |title=Iraqi women (re)writing their stories: An overview of short stories and novels by Iraqi women in English translation |url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jciaw_00087_1 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=113–138 |doi=10.1386/jciaw_00087_1 |issn=2515-8538|url-access=subscription }} Her sister wrote an introduction, which was translated into English.