Considered one of the world’s largest stateless ethnic group, Kurdish people have endured disgraceful and systematic attacks against their culture since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after WWI.
Andry-Andreja Jakuš
With the Kurds being highlighted and frequently represented in my works, I’ve noticed a number of my acquaintances and supporters asking about Kurdish poetry translated into English.
Even though Kurdish poets are revered as real celebrities in Kurdistan where their poetry is rich, abundant, omnipresent, it isn’t very easy to find Kurdish poetry translated into any language, English in particular.
This made it ever important for me to write this Kurdish Female Poetry spotlight: A Series that I shall present on my Creator pages, both #buymeacoffee and Patreon, and also on my YouTube Poetry Readings Channel.
Considered one of the world’s largest stateless ethnic group, Kurdish people have endured disgraceful and systematic attacks against their culture since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after WWI.
This systematic oppression also deeply affects language.
This Linguicide, adds to the importance of seeing more Kurdish poetry translated and spread broadly to represent this unique abs remarkable people, their loud and proud voices, rich heritage, specific tradition, and their powerful stories.
Therefore, I wish to introduce you to DR. CHOMAN HARDI a scholar, poet, translator, feminist, and founder and director of the Center for Gender Studies at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.
Her books LIFE FOR US and CONSIDERING THE WOMEN are mandatory reading.
The poems in these books are skillfully crafted, honest, powerful, intense, morbidly expressive, and devastating.
I will direct you to her poem DISPUTE OVER A MASS GRAVE with this final stanza:
“That one is mine! Please give him back to me.
I will bury him on the verge of my garden —
The mulberry tree will offer him its shadow,
The flowers will earnestly guard his grave,
The hens will peck on his gravestone,
The beehive will hum above his head.”
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Andry-Andreja Jakus, a Professor at Hacettepe University, Zagreb, Croatia, is Academic Writer, Bibliographer, Lexicographer, Translator, Language Tutor and Reviewer. In her columns, she writes on poetry, philosophy, cultural studies, history of religions etc.
Courtesy: Andry-Andreja Jakus/LinkedIn – Published with permission of the author
