From Iraq’s towns to the North’s nests

Jan 31 2009 by Matthew Mckenzie, The Journal

THE Journal today launches a host of new blogs, including one by an award-winning Tyneside writer who is returning to live in her native Iraq.

Zainab Radhi escaped the “unbearable” sanctions hitting Baghdad during the first Gulf war as a 15-year-old, embarking on a “year-long” journey to reach London and, ultimately, Tyneside.

Settling in Newcastle in 1999, she has been here ever since, working as a teacher, based at Westgate College. But this weekend she leaving her latest home, in Gateshead, to return to her homeland after a creative stint in her adopted North East.

Zainab, 31, said: “I’m sad that I’m leaving, I’ll miss it a lot.

“I’ll be coming back a lot – my time in the North East has been a really productive period where I’ve reached almost all of the goals I set myself at the Millennium.”

Those goals included establishing herself as a writer and last year she picked up a North Promise Award from writing agency New Writing North.

Zainab will be continuing that fledging career in her writing for Blog Central on www.journallive.co.uk as she documents her move back to Iraq.

She flies out tomorrow after making the decision to return last October.

The 31-year-old said: “I visited Iraq again for the first time a few months ago.

“It was an overwhelming journey. I went to retrace my roots and felt like I should belong to that world once more.

“I have grown up away from it, but I wanted to go back to be a part of it once more.”

Zainab is moving to Kurdistan in the north of the country and will be working between two cities, the capital of the area Erbil, and Sulaimanya.

She’ll do some teaching and help set up a magazine focusing on the people in the rebuilt Iraq. You can follow her progress at www.journallive.co.uk/blogs – her first posts are already online.

Also making their debuts this weekend are Hannah Davies, a Journal writer who is blogging about life as a new mum after recently giving birth to her first child, Otis.

Birder Alan Tilmouth is also starting his look at the North East birdwatching scene while David Matthews is writing a blog about health and safety gone mad.

We’ve also got our first blog about a kids’ internet craze – Lily and Toby go geocaching looks at the worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure via the web.

Go to www.journallive.co.uk/blogs to find out more.

Our Blog Central platform is already an eclectic mix of writing – from Tony Jeffries’ Gloves Apart blog on boxing to Anna Heywood’s award-winning environmental blog.