” Basrayatha” is a literary tribute by author Muhammad Khudayyir to the city of his birth, Basra, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southern Iraq. Just as a city`s inhabitants differ from outsiders through their knowledge of its streets & stories, so Khudayyir distinguishes between the real city of Basra & the imagined city he created through stories, experiences, & folklore. By turns a memoir, a travelog, a love letter, & a meditation, ” Basrayatha” summons up a city long gone, yet which lives on in the memories & imaginations of its people. In the tradition of Calvino & Borges, Khudayyir`s mesmerizing work itself illuminates & enriches the story of this magnificent city.