Blog

These blog posts offer an insight into some of the projects that we’ve supported and how the British Council works with literature, including interviews with writers, diaries from international visits, and reflections on completed or on-going projects. The opinions expressed in the blog are those of the authors.

Caroline Wyatt: reportage in war

| by Caroline Wyatt

Caroline Wyatt reflects on the role of reportage in making sense of the human experience of war

Owen Sheers: war poetry

| by Owen Sheers

Owen Sheers reflects on war poetry in this thought piece

"Women in Kurdistan are Not Passive Victims": An Interview with Choman Hardi

| by Choman Hardi

The Niniti International Literature Festival launches on the 22nd of April in Erbil, Iraq- a continuation of the Erbil Literature Festival, now in its third year. 'Niniti' is a Sumerian epithet meaning 'lady of life', chosen to reflect the festival's focus on women's writing. Choman Hardi is a Kurdish poet and academic. Her poems have been published by Bloodaxe Books and celebrated widely. She has a PhD on the effects of forced migration on Kurdish women from Iraq and Iran and her post-doctoral research, published by Routledge, was concerned with gendering the Anfal genocide in Kurdistan-Iraq. Forced to flee her homeland twice, she is also the founder of Serdemi Jim, a journal of women's writing and culture. Here she talks to us about women in Kurdistan, the effects of voyage and return on the immigrant's identity, and the intersection between poetry and politics.