SPECIAL KURDISH ISSUE: From Kurmanji to English, an Introduction to Selim Temo
To celebrate the forthcoming publication of Selim Temo's "Nightlands," we present an introductory essay and two poems from the Pinsapo Press edition.
Zêdan Xelef
Zêdan Xelef is a poet, translator, organizer, and archivist. They grew up in the Yazidi community of Shingal Mountains where they herded four goats with three other cousins. They are the co-creator of Tew Tew, an oral history and oral traditions archive with a mission to preserve the endangered Yazidi oral traditions in response to the Yazidi genocide. They’re the writer of A Barcode Scanner (Kashkul Books 2021/Gato Negro Ediciones 2022) and co-editor and co-translator of the upcoming Something Missing from This World: Contemporary Yazidi Poetry (Deep Vellum, August 2024). Photo by Rae Rad.