- Hudā Barakāt (1952-, Lebanon) – Ḥārath al-Miyāh (1998, English Trans. The Tiller of Waters, 2004). Set in a destroyed Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, this novel narrates the story of Niqūla Mitri, a fabric tradesman suffering from hallucinations, and his beloved Shamsah, a Kurdish maid (see for description O: Occupations, Professions and Hobbies: Fabrics and 1975 – 1988 Lebanese Civil War)
- Salīm Barakāt (1951-, Syria) – Sabāya Sinjār (‘Captives of Sinjar’, 2016). While attempting to paint the pain of Yezidi women who were enslaved and abused by ISIS, Sarāt (a contraction of Salīm Barakāt), a Kurdish painter living in Sweden, interviews Yazidi women in Sweden and writes a novel based on their stories. The title of the novel refers to the mountains of Sinjār, in northern Iraq, where most of the abuses took place. The novel uses magical realism to process and display the traumatic events that followed the Syrian civil war (also in O: Occupations, Professions and Hobbies: Arts).
- Jān Dūst (1965-, Syria) – Mamar Āmin (2019, English trans. Safe Corridor, 2025). This novel focuses on the experiences of Kurdish communities in Afrin during the Syrian Civil War, including the occupation of Daesh/ISIS in 2014 and the Turkish operation ‘Olive Branch’ in 2017. It is narrated by the 13-year old Kāmīrān (Kamu), whose body, in Kafkaesque fashion, turns into a piece of chalk when he flees in collapsing Syria. The fall of Afrin and the destruction of the statue of Kaveh the Blacksmith symbolize the shattering of Kurdish hopes, a theme Dūst deepens through mythic imagery and his portrayal of displacement and loss (reference) (also in F: Children and Family Life: Children and Adolescents: War and devastation through children’s eyes).
- Mahā Ḥassan (1966-, Syria) – Ḥabil Sirrī (‘Umbilical cord’, 2010). This novel centers three woman from three generations of a Kurdish community; a mother, her daughter, and her newborn grandchild, who have been exiled from their land. The story takes place in Syria and France, and through its main character Ṣūfī, it reflects on the question of identity, specifically the oppression of the Kurdish identity and language in Syria (reference). The novel makes references to Kurdish cultural heritage and folklore, and the Kurdish nationalist movement.
- Jinān Jāsim Ḥillāwī (1956-, Iraq) – Layl al-Bilād (‘The country’s long night’, 2002). This novel is a write up of the Iran-Iraq war narrative after the war (reference). It focuses on ʿAballah who is led by force to the front and returns as a madman to his destroyed home city Basra. The novel also depicts the Kurdish resistance in the north of the country and fictionally documents the armed rebels’ challenge to Saddam Hussein’s regime (also in 1980 – 1988 Iran – Iraq War).
- Haytham Ḥussayn (1978-, Syria) – ʿAshbat Ḍārrah fī al-Fardūs (‘A weed in paradise’, 2017). In 2004, riots related to a chaotic football match led to the Kurdish Qamishli uprisings in which marchers among others chanted anti-Bashar al-Asad slogans. The resulting government oppression of the demonstrations led to dozens of deaths, thousands of imprisonments, and many Kurds fleeing their towns for the suburbs of Damascus (reference). These confrontations are the topic of this novel, narrated by a woman who follows the changes in the alienated and internally displaced Kurdish community.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Amir Moosavi. 2015. “How to Write Death: Re-signifying Martyrdom in Two Novels of the Iran Iraq War.” AJCP 35: 9-31
- Al-ʿArab. 2017. “ ‘ʿAshbat Ḍārrah fī al-Fardūs’: Ālim min al-Tanāquḍāt fī Sard Riwāʾī.” www.arab.co.uk, 20 July 2017, https://alarab.co.uk/%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B3-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A (last accessed 21 January 2024)