“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.
Jiyar Homer
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 serves as an editor for the literary magazine Îlyan. He speaks Kurdish, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Persian. His translations have appeared in 30 countries, including in World Literature Today, Literary Hub, The Brooklyn Rail, Periódico de Poesía, Círculo de Poesía, Buenos Aires Poetry and Revista POESIA. His book-length translations include works by Juan Carlos Onetti, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Farhad Pirbal and Sherzad Hassan. He is a member of Kurdish PEN.