Unlike most contemporary Quebec writers, Naim Kattan was not born in Quebec, but his cultural heritage, that of the Jewish minority in an Arab country, has made him particularly sensitive to the problems and aspirations of the French-speaking minority in English-speaking North America. As he himself is well aware, Kattan's experience of the Middle East, Europe, and most recently North America follows the evolutionary path of Western civilization, from his birthplace, the "Cradle of Civilization," to modern America. This unique cultural background forms the basis of Kattan's work as a literary critic and, since his arrival in Canada, as a novelist and author of short stories.

Born in Baghdad to Nessim and Hela Saleh Kattan, Kattan grew up in the Jewish community of the Iraqi capital, attended the Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Faculty of Law of the University of Baghdad, and very quickly became interested...