Refugee 33,333: Selected Poems

A collection of poetry from acclaimed yet underrepresented Kurdish poet Farhad Pirbal.

Like that of his contemporary Abdulla Pashew, Farhad Pirbal’s poetry is a chronicle of exile and displacement, longing and not belonging. The poetry is in turns wistful and disoriented, reflecting his role as a dissident and persecuted prisoner. ＂Poèegrave;te maudit＂ of Kurdistan, Pirbal is known as well for his highly publicized antics as for his prolific literary output. Pirbal, born in 1961, ＂may be the greatest innovator of Kurdish literature in the twentieth century, in both poetry and prose＂ (Shook, Poetry Foundation).

Farhad Pirbal is a Kurdish writer, philosopher, singer, poet, painter and critic. He was born in the city of Erbil in Southern Kurdistan. He studied Kurdish language and literature in the University of Salahadin in Hewlêr. In 1986, he left Kurdistan to France, where he continued his studies in University of Sorbonne in the field of Kurdish literature. After going back to Southern Kurdistan, in 1994, he established the Sharafkhan Badlisi cultural center.