Among the popular writers in the Kurdistan Region is a hidden, deep, powerful voice who has been writing poems for the last forty years. This rich voice is Sabah Ranjdar, a poet with a unique style.
Sabah Ranjdar is from Erbil and has published more than 25 books filled with images that delight readers. The poet has so many fans, and his books are frequently reprinted.
“I’ve been Sabah Ranjdar’s poems for over 15 years. I live with them as they give me a different world, a solace, and medicine for my emotional issues,” Karzan Gharib, a resident in Erbil and a fan of the poet, told Kurdistan 24. “His words give you hope, show you what is beyond this universe and help you think outside the box.”
Poetry lovers, readers, writers, and academics have all fallen in love with Ranjdar’s magical power of creating a unique world with words.
“Ranjdar’s poems are like a world with no beginning and no end,” said Ahmadi Mala, a Kurdish writer. “Everything can become a matter and a poem.”
The poet’s most notable works include Experience as speech in life, I like to live that much, Dream narrates itself as such, Zewan, The Earth Anthem, One hundred and one words, The world of all names, A dead person is aware of all, The beginning was only word, Love is prettier than death, Zero Year and Forty-year battle.
“When I read his poems, I get disconnected from this world and enter another world,” said Aryan Akram, a local fan from Sulaimani. “His images are powerful, making you step back and think better and wiser, think beyond.”
Students from all the academic institutions in the Kurdistan Region study his poems, finding meanings from the depth of Ranjdar’s unique world. There are dozens of studies and research about his poetry and the secret world in his words.
“My master’s thesis was on Ranjdar’s works, and I found that this poet is unique not only on the local level but also on the international level,” noted Haja Anwar, an academic from Saladdin University. “I suggest that publishers in the Kurdistan Region try to translate his works into English and other foreign languages because his words deserve to trespass all borders.”
“I write for serious readers, those who can go into the depth of my poems,” Ranjdar said. “I’ve never used my poetry for worldly or materialistic matters. It is all for the sake of poetry.”[1]