The President's Cake

In Hasan Hadi’s engrossing debut, a young girl is faced with the challenge of baking a cake for her school’s celebration of Saddam Hussein’s birthday. Though considered a great honour, nine-year-old Lamia’s task feels impossible, as she and her grandmother Bibi already struggle to get by. But armed with a shopping list and her pet rooster, Lamia remains determined as she sets off to find ingredients. A child’s eye view of a dictatorship, The President’s Cake skilfully navigates between the comic and the tragic.