A news from Sarajevo
Sarajevo International Poetry Days Festival Awards Kurdish poet Hussein Habasch the Bosnian International Prize for Poetry “Bosnian Stećak”, which is the highest award granted by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Writers, and one of the most important Balkan prizes for literature. And the reasons for the invitation and awarding him the award stated, “This award represents a high appreciation for your outstanding poetic work and your contribution to literature that glorifies freedom and humanity.”
The press conference regarding awarding the award stated: Winner of the Bosnian Writers Union Award “Bosnian Stećak” This year, the Kurdish poet Hussein Habasch, who lives in exile in Germany. This is a special person, said Mile Stojić, head of the Poetry Days in Sarajevo council. In a way, his poetry is close to us, because he writes about the destruction of the Kurdish homeland, and the terrorism that is being practiced against the Kurdish people. We chose Hussein Habasch this year because there is a great war drama taking place in Europe which some say is the beginning of World War III, and no one thinks about the Middle East anymore, whose drama has been going on for years. This might be a little unfair. So, we decided to give the award to a Kurdish man, an exile, a man from a devastated country – said Stojić.
He said that Hussein Habasch has been translated into many languages of the world, and next year the Book Association will publish a selection of his poems.
The prize was previously awarded to great poets in the world, such as the Polish poet Tadeusz Rousjevic, the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, the American poet Charles Simic, the Swedish poet Lars Gustafsson, the German poet Michael Krueger, Swiss poet and writerIlmaRakusa, the Bosnian poet BesiraAlikadic…
The Sarajevo International Poetry Days Festival is an international festival that has been held annually since 1962, with Bosnian and international participation.
About Hussein Habasch:
Hussein Habasch is a poet from Afrin, Kurdistan. He currently lives in Bonn, Germany. His poems have been translated into English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Turkish, Persian, Albanian, Uzbek, Russian, Italian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Polish and Romanian, and has had his poetry published in a large number of international poetry anthologies. His books include: Drowning in Roses, Fugitives across Evros River, Higher than Desire and more Delicious than the Gazelle’s Flank, Delusions to Salim Barakat, A Flying Angel, No pasarán (in Spanish), Copaci Cu Chef (in Romanian), Dos Árboles and Tiempos de Guerra (in Spanish), Fever of Quince (in Kurdish), Peace for Afrin, peace for Kurdistan (in English and Spanish), The Red Snow (in Chinese), Dead arguing in the corridors (in Arabic) Drunken trees (in Kurdish), Boredom of a tired statue (in Kurdish), Flor del Espinillo (in Spanish) and A Rose for the Heart of Life, Selected Poems (in English). He participated in many international festivals of poetry including: Colombia, Nicaragua, France, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Germany, Romania, Lithuania, Morocco, Ecuador, El Salvador, Kosovo, Macedonia, Costa Rica, Slovenia, China, Taiwan, Cuba, Sweden and New York City.
