'Me Çi Xwend Çi Nexwend': New anthology gathers reading memories of 13 Kurdish writers
Pall Weşan has published "Me Çi Xwend Çi Nexwend" ("What We Read, What We Didn't Read"), edited by Fahriye Adsay. The book brings together 13 Kurdish writers from different regions, each reflecting on their own experiences with reading — and with not reading.
RastinewsPall Weşan has published a collective book on reading titled "Me Çi Xwend Çi Nexwend" ("What We Read, What We Didn't Read"). Fahriye Adsay edited the volume, in which 12 other Kurdish writers from different regions join her in writing about their experiences of "reading" and "not reading."
The book's contributors are Asya Xerzan, Beyar Bavî, Çidem Baran, Fatma Savci, Ferzan Şêr, Fırat Aydınkaya, Haşim Ahmedzade, Jana Seyda, Perwîz Cîhanî, Receb Dildar, Ruşen Arslan and Ümit Fırat.
"Me Çi Xwend Çi Nexwend" is the third title in Pall Weşan's "hûrgilî" series, following "Trêna li Stasyona Xwe Digere" and "Çi Şên e Qehwexaneya Bajêr."
An invitation to read
According to the back-cover text released by Pall Weşan, discussing reading experiences also means discussing the writers' own personal histories. The book invites readers to write about, reflect on and reassess their own reading.
The aim, the publisher says, is to see collectively what books and reading have given the writers — and what they have taken from them. A collective account of reading and not reading over the past 60 to 70 years, the back-cover text argues, could lay the groundwork for new debate and interpretation.
Who is Fahriye Adsay?
Fahriye Adsay is from Dêrika Çiyayê Mazî in Mardin province. She earned her bachelor's degree from the Department of History at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, and holds master's degrees in Kurdish language and literature from Mardin Artuklu University and in sociology from Dicle University in Amed.
Her book "Yezidi Kadınlar, Kültürel Sınırların Edilgen Muhafızları" ("Yazidi Women: Passive Guardians of Cultural Borders") was published by Avesta in 2014. Adsay edits Zarema magazine and has translated dozens of books and articles from English into Turkish and Kurdish since 2013.
The book is available at pallwesan.com and in bookstores.
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