Project Description

Suhrab Sirat

Shrub Sirat

With three books published, Suhrab Sirat, is a poet, writer and journalist. He was born in 1990, in Balkh Province of Afghanistan and moved to the UK in 2014. He has a Bachelor in Persian Language and Literature from Balkh University.
His first collection of poems was published by Balkh Independent Writers Association when he was just 19. His second and third books were published by Afghan PEN, a member of International PEN.

Suhrab Sirat is the first literature prize winner of the United Nation Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for Women Rights 2009, and the first prize winner for Qand-e-Parsi, 2011, a prestigious literature organization in Persian speaking countries. Suhrab has also written the first lyrics for the first Afghan female rapper criticizing patriarchy and taboos. He has represented Afghanistan at the Rio International Literary Festival (FLUPP) in 2013. Apart from his activities and achievement in literature, he has extensive experience working with prominent media networks such as BBC in Afghanistan.

Poem: Suhrab Sirat

Translation from Persian: Karim Haidary
Afghanistan

What am I?
The gullet of a hundred broken voices
The burning geography, calamitous climate
I am the buried palace
In an old treasure trove of Balkh
Or in a crumbled village of Helmand
I am the abattoir of Buddha
Yes, I am Bamyan
I have no one but a broken God
I am a scream that echoes
From one peak to another mountain
From one valley to the next
Ghazni? No I am not
I am Kandahar
But without water and pomegranate
I am Herat, with broken minarets
Who am I after? What am I seeking-
In deserted parks, collapsed cinemas
I am the poor Kabul
Smoke and horror everyday
The exhausted subject
The broken sovereign

P.S: Balkh, Bamyan, Ghazni, Kandahar, Herat, Kabul: Provinces of Afghanistan

Original Version:
افغانستان 1
من چیستم؟ گلوی صدها صدای ویران
جغرافیای سوزان… آب و هوای ویران!
من،‌ کاخ زیر خاکی در کنج کهنة بلخ
یا در حدود هلمند آن روستای ویران…
من،‌ قتل‌گاه بودا، من بامیانم آری!
دیگر کسی ندارم غیر از خدای ویران
من،‌ کوه کوه چیـ/ـغم من،‌ درّه درّه فریاد
غزنی؟ نه نیستم این… این بی‌نوای ویران!
من، قندهار… اما بی آب و بی انارم
هستم هرات اما با برج‌های ویران
دنبال کیستم کی؟‌ دنبال چیستم چی؟
در پارک‌های خالی در سینمای ویران؛
من، کابل غریبم: هر روز دود، وحشت…
فرمان‌بران خسته، فرمان‌روای ویران
Find Suhrab on Facebook and Twitter:

www.facebook.com/suhrab.sirat
@suhrab_sirat