Dictionary of Midnight

by Abdulla Pashew, Alana Marie Levinson-Labrosse (translator)

With a foreword by National Book Award-winning author William T. Vollmann

Dictionary of Midnight collects almost 50 years of poetry by Abdulla Pashew, the most influential Kurdish poet alive today. Pashew’s poems chart a personal cartography of exile, recounting the recent political history of Kurdistan and its struggle for independence. Poet-translator Alana Marie Levinson-LaBrosse worked with the poet to select and translate his most iconic poems, balancing well-known, politically engaged contemporary Kurdish classics like “12 Lessons for Children” with the concise love lyrics that have always punctuated his work.

Genres: Poetry

385 pages, Paperback

First published December 11, 2018

About the author

Abdulla Pashew, or (Kurdish: Ebdulla Peşêw‎), is one of the most famous contemporary Kurdish poets. He was born in 1946 in Hewlêr, Iraqi Kurdistan. He studied at the Teachers' Training Institute in Hewlêr (Erbil), and participated in the Foundation Congress of the Kurdish Writers' Union in Baghdad in 1970. In 1973 he went to the former Soviet Union, and in 1979 he received an M.A. in pedagogy with a specialisation in foreign languages. In 1984 he was granted a PhD in Philology from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences. For the next five years he was a professor at al-Fatih University in Tripoli, Libya. He has lived in Finland since 1995.

He published his first poem in 1963 and his first collection in 1967. Since then he has published eight collections. The latest, Berew Zerdeper (Towards the Twilight), was published in Sweden in 2001. He is fluent in English and Russian and has translated the works of Walt Whitman and Alexandr Pushkin into Kurdish

عەبدوڵا پەشێو شاعیرێکی بەناوبانگی کوردە. لە سالى١٩٤٦ لە ھەولێر له دایک بووە. لە ١٩٧٠ لە دامەزراندنی یەکێتی نووسەرانی کورد لە بەغداد بەشداری کردووە. لە ١٩٧٣ رۆیشت بۆ یەکێتی سۆڤیەت و لە ساڵی ١٩٧٩ ماستەری وەرگێڕانی ڕووسی و ئینگلیزیی لە زانکۆی لە مۆسکۆ وەرگرت و ساڵی ١٩٨٤ دوکتۆرای ئەدەبییاتی ھێنا کە تێزەکەی لەسەر شاعیر و نووسەری کورد پیرەمێرد بووە. ساڵەکانی ١٩٨٥ تا ١٩٩٠ لە زانکۆی ئەلفاتیح لە لیبیا مامۆستا بوو. پەشێو لە ١٩٩٥ەوە دانیشتووی فینلاندە

Ebdulla Peşêw an Evdila Peşêw helbestvanekî kurd e ku bi zaravayê soranî dinivîse. Di salên 1960'an de tev li şoreşa başûr dibe, demekî pêşmergetiyê dike, piştra derdikeve derveyî welêt.
Niha (2008) jî li Fînlandê mamostetiya zanîngehekê dike.

Reviews

[kiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

my fav was "i love you and her as well"

[Sanam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book!

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, politically charged, evocative poetry by a Kurdish legend finally in English for the first time.

[Jestora (muaad) the poet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pashew is the most lyrically and technically gifted poet from the 20th century that I have read so far. He’s weaves together love of a woman and the love of a homeland. So you don’t know which one he’s talking about. He’s travelled, studied and has a genuine heartbreak story with the loss of his homeland Kurdistan. He’s wonderful to read. A magician.