An expatriate Kurdish poet holds a poetry festival in the name of his hometown in Amuda countryside

On Saturday, an expatriate Syrian Kurdish poet held the “Garsor Poetry Festival” for its second session, in the village of Garsor in Amuda countryside, with the participation of 13 male and female poets.

“Garsor” is the name of a Kurdish village in northeastern Syria, and it is the birthplace of the Syrian Kurdish poet Marwan Ali, the owner of the festival.

“Garsor” Festival is an independent literary and cultural activity, held in Palestine for its first session.

Regarding the goal of the festival, poet Marwan Ali told ASO News Network, “Our villages are always under attack, so I wanted to protect our villages and cities through poetry and keep them in our attention.”

He added: “When we hold a festival in a Kurdish name, we protect our villages from the eyes of these enemies.”

He has three poetry collections, the first: (Yesterday’s Water – Beirut 2009), the second: (Strange… Nothing About You in WikiLeaks – Manama 2014), and the third: (The Way Home – Milan, Beirut 2018).

His works have been translated into Kurdish, Turkish, German, Italian, English, Dutch, and French, and he won the Dutch (Dunya) Poetry Festival Prize in 1997.

In the 1990s, Ali left Syria for the Netherlands, after completing his studies in economics at the University of Aleppo. He stayed there until 2003, then moved to Germany, where he currently resides.