BEKAS, SHERKO

(1940- )

   Sherko Bekas is one of the most famous contemporary Kurdish poets and the son of the Kurdish poet Fayak Bekas. He fled from Kurdistan for political reasons in 1986 and lived in Sweden until returning home in 1992. Born in Sulaymaniya province in Iraqi Kurdistan, his poetry has been published in Kurdish newspapers and magazines all over Kurdistan. His work also has been translated into many different languages, including Arabic, Italian, Swedish, Danish, French, and English. He has won several prizes in Europe for his work. He also briefly served as minister of information from 1992 to 1993 in the first unified Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraqi Kurdistan.

   Bekas introduced a new element into Kurdish poetry called Ru-wange (Vision) in 1971, which was a sharp change from such traditional rules of poetry such as rhyme. In 1975, he also introduced the "poster poem," a term taken from sculpture and painting. Many of these poems are short, transforming seemingly trivial objects into surprising and even shocking climaxes in which the mystery is solved. Much of his work is nationalistic and patriotic: "If from inside of all my poetry . . . you take out the freedom, my year will die and I will die also." In yet another poem, he explained: "The tide said to the fisherman: There are many reasons why my waves are in a rage. The most important is that I am for the freedom of the fish and against the net."

   See also Literature.