Saad Eskander

Saad Eskander,(1962- ), is a contemporary Kurdish academic and researcher. He was born in Baghdad, joined the Kurdish Peshmerga in 1981 and lived in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan for four years, then moved to Iran and Syria. He sought asylum in UK in 1990 [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/09/iraq.iraqandthearts Books, tears and blood] , The Guardian, June 9, 2008.] . He received his B.A. in modern history from the University of North London and his PhD in international relations and history from the London School of Economics [ [http://www.pbs.org/now/news/312.html Saad Eskander on Rebuilding Iraq] , PBS, March 23, 2007.] . He returned to Iraq in 2003 after the invasion and since then has served as the director of the Iraq National Library and Archive. During the height of civil war in Iraq, he wrote a blog diary about the horrowing experience of living in Baghdad, which was subsequently published on the British Library's website [ [http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary.html Diary of Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive(covering the period November 2006 - July 2007)] ] . He was awarded "Archivist of the Year Award" by New York's Scone Foundation at a ceremony at Columbia University in New York on 12 November 2007 [ [http://www.bl.uk/dr_eskanderaward.html Dr Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive, is named Archivist of the Year 2007 ] ] . He also won the "MESA Academic Freedom Award" of the Middle East Studies Association in 2007 [ [http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/excellence/academic.htm MESA Academic Freedom Award ] ] .

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