and author. She was born in Prague, Czech Republic, in 1973 to an Iraqi father and Czech mother. Naïm Kattan, Canadian novelist, essayist and critic. Rachel Shabi, author and contributing writer to The Guardian. Shabi was born to Iraqi Jewish parents. Rachel Wahba, writer Raed Jarrar, writer, architect and human rights activist Ronny Someck, Israeli poet Sami Michael, Israeli author and the president of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel. Shant Kenderian, notable as an Iraqi-born United States citizen who became an American prisoner-of-war after being forced to fight against the United States in the Persian Gulf War Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967), eminent English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His father, Alfred Ezra Sassoon (1861–1895), son of Sassoon David Sassoon, was a member of the wealthy Baghdadi Jewish Sassoon merchant family. Sinan Antoon (born 1967) (Arabic: سنان أنطون), Iraqi poet, novelist, scholar, and an associate professor at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University. He was featured in the 2003 documentary film About Baghdad, which he also co-directed. Suzanne Alaywan, poet and painting artist, born in Beirut to a Lebanese father and Iraqi mother Zainab Salbi, writer, activist, co-founder and president of Women for Women International Zuhur Dixon (1933–2021), poet Religious figures Ignatius Peter IV (1798 - 1894) 116th Patriarch of Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the World Ignatius Antony I Samheri (1801 - 1864) Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church from 1853 to 1864 Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum (1887 - 1957) 120th Patriarch of Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the World Ignatius Jacob III (1913 - 1980) 121st Patriarch of Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the World Ignatius Zakka I (1931 - 1914) 122nd Patriarch of Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the World Abo of Tiflis, Patron Saint of Tbilisi, Georgia Andraos Abouna (March 23, 1943 – July 27, 2010), Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Hirta and the auxiliary bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon. Shimon Agassi (1852–1914), Hakham and Kabbalist Asenath Barzani (1590–1670), renowned Kurdish Jewish woman who lived in Mosul, Iraq, daughter