“Sweet Tea”—a classic Kurdish story by Hussein Arif
In this short story translated from Kurdish for the first time, a young man discovers that his discomfort was suppressing his true feelings.
Hussein Arif
Hussein Arif (1936, Slemani, Kurdistan) is an iconic Kurdish short story writer and novelist. His great grandfathers migrated from Qalachwalan district to Slemani after the city was established in 1784 under the rule of Baban emirate. Notably, his mother was the daughter of Mullah Ahmad, also known as “The Tea-Server Mullah,” who was the pioneer in bringing tea from Iran to Slemani. He has worked as a lawyer for decades, and was a member of the Parliament of Kurdistan as well as the Union of Kurdish Writers. Hussein Arif’s “Sweet Tea” is widely regarded as one of the finest Kurdish short stories.
Jiyar Homer is a translator and editor from Kurdistan, a member of Kashkul, the Center for Arts and Culture at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), and an editor at Îlyan magazine and the Balinde Poetry publishing house. He speaks Kurdish, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Persian. He specializes in translating Latin American literature into Kurdish and Kurdish literature into various languages, bringing over 100 authors into publication in more than 30 countries. His book-length translations include works by Juan Carlos Onetti, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Bachtyar Ali, Sherzad Hassan, Farhad Pirbal and Dilawar Karadaghi. Additionally, he is a member of Kurdish PEN.