Dr. Hiva Panahi talked about her poetry and life in NYC

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am deeply moved and overjoyed being here in NY with all of you. I'm also excited to be in the conference room of the workers' union which brings forth ideas  that have been a source of inspiration for the whole world.

Dear friends, brothers, and sisters, I come from my Kurdish homeland, which has been divided during the last century by the major forces into four separate entities in four different countries. My people, the Kurds, are now split and divided in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. In every part of Kurdistan, my people are forbidden to speak our language and are stripped of our natural right to practice our culture. I know it seems so incredible and extreme but this is the tragic truth. It's like forbidding a rose from being a rose. Kurdish people are strong-willed and have deep-rooted beliefs and aspirations for freedom and respect for life. This is why these superpowers did not succeed in carrying out their evil plan of genocide, the plan to destroy the Kurdish culture.

My people not only resisted and invented ways to survive but they also created a high spiritual identity. I come from an intellect which has been continuously under harsh persecution to this day. Generations of writers, poets and artists have been sacrificing their lives for the Kurdish culture.

As a Kurd of the Diaspora, I have also lived 17 years of my life in Greece. Those years have been a gift as I was able to connect with the highest institutions of the generous Greek culture and its spiritual traditions. I managed to give back to my new country my meager intellectual gifts as a poet and as a scientist, but life was still difficult. Being invisible in intellectual spaces, I suffered for many years under the persecution. As a result I lost everything.

During all those dark years, my poetry was like a light coming from angels to save me; my writing brought me here,  became my wings; became my spiritual passport to the United States and here rise again.

   My wish is that cultural creations such as poetry, will give mental and spiritual strength towards stability throughout the world. Poetry must remain as the immortal logos, like light... 

Dr. Hiva Panahi, Book party 

4.12.2016, NYC    

Poetry Against Oppression – A Kurdish-Iranian Human Rights Advocate Dr. Hiva Panahi

Poetry Against Oppression – A Kurdish-Iranian Human Rights Advocate
When:January 11, 2017 @ 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Discussion Presentation Reading Screening Signing

As a lifelong advocate for rights and opposition to human trafficking, Hiva Panahi speaks eloquently and passionately about the worldwide struggle for freedom and dignity, and especially about the special oppression of women and girls. Her poetry, at times heartbreaking, at times uplifting, reflects the lives of women in Iran, as well as the experience of a refugee seeking shelter in a foreign land.

Dr. Panahi will read from her first collection of poetry in English, after which she will answer questions about her journey and her art.
This post was replicated from another site's calendar feed.
This entry was posted on November 8, 2016.
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Foreign Land, Hiva Panahi from the " Secrets of the Snow"

Foreign Land
The heart became a museum
The only one who comes to visit
Is loneliness
2000 

From the collection of Hiva's poetry, "Secrets of the Snow" published by Hard Ball Press, NYC, US, 2016

Book lunch for Dr. Hiva Panahi in United Auto Workers conference rooms, NYC, Manhattan

Book lunch for Dr. Hiva Panahi in United Auto Workers conference rooms, NYC, Manhattan

The book lunch will be take place in Sunday, Dec. 4, 1-4 pm at the United Auto Workers conference rooms, New York City, Address is: 256 W. 38th Street, 12th floor, Manhattan

An Introduction to Hiva Panahi Poetry by Nanos Valaoritis

An Introduction to Hiva Panahi Poetry by Nanos Valaoritis
The poems of Hiva Panahi have a sweet flavor of the East. Full of allusions and mostly short, they breathe a quality that stems from a very ancient poetic tradition in which poetry indirectly refers to events that are often tragically nostalgic and intensely passionate, tempered only by the way they are referred to. The intense feelings are enveloped by metaphors and omissions, avoiding direct description. Their particularities are admirable and greatly differ from the way we write in Europe and in the States. Hiva belongs to the great Medes tradition; the intense nuances of powerful feelings come from her Kurdish origin and dramatically colour her poetry.Hiva is exceptional in that with the publication of her first book in Greek, she introduced Greek readers to a little known style, at least in poetry writing. Especially noteworthy is the fact that she translated them first hand from Kurdish to Greek, having mastered the language and tradition of Greece after only eight months.

*On the occasion of the Greek edition of the Hiva poetry, Nanos Valaoritis, 2007, Athens
**Nanos Valaoritis is the most important poet of the Hellenic diaspora since Constantine Cavafy, Emeritus professor at the State University of San Francisco US

A from Ashes

It's like I count the stars so that the dream takes me… I count, they are far, and they so close. That is my breath, my breath of life, this hunted down life, sparkling, multi coloured life, in the glow of the stars …

*Artwork by A. Kamandi form East Kurdistan

Master's degree in Hiva Panahi poetry by Mrs.M Varoudakis at Harokopio University of Athens

Harokopio University of Athens

Department of Home Economics and Ecology

PSP Education and Culture

Diploma thesis: Immigration Literature, the case of two writers from Iran

 The purpose of this thesis is to examine the depiction of immigration to

literary works of authors immigrants in order to show how this experience affects their authors. To achieve this investigation, the case study wasutilized, while the approach of the material was based on the method of content analysis, combined with the method of biographical interpretation .The research focuses on the study of two authors' works, who immigrated to Greece, Fereydoun Faryad (1949-2012) and Hiva Panahi (1980-), derived from Kurds of Iran. The research material is based on the work of the two authors adopted officially in Greek after their migrations.  In the theoretical part of this work, first is examined the historical - social  context that concerns the country of origin of the two authors, Iran. Then the meaning of '“foreign” is analyzed. Finally, it explores the concept of Immigrant Literature and attempted demonstrate the features of the course of study,

modern theories about related to this as well as the way of dealing with it in Greece.  The conclusion drawn from the analysis of the works of both authors is that, despite their differences in several places, also some similarities are presented between them, first as to the attitude towards their country before their migration, which is linked to the causes of their expatriation, and secondly as to capture the emotions that the immigration experience causes.  Also the attitude that the two authors form after the migration is similar, as far as it concerns their homeland and their host country. These two creators seem to be bound with both countries and form a complex identity, while in their works inter cultural elements are obviously presented.

03/12/2015, Athens 

A contribution creating with poetry in «Austerity Measures» Of Professor Karen Van Dyck, Hiva Panahi' s Poetry

The article is in German language

Nichts zu verlieren

«Austerity Measures» und die neue griechische Lyrik

"Der Brexit ist dem Grexit zuvorgekommen. Zwei schrecklich vereinfachende und auch noch holprig klingende Begriffe für die Summe all dessen, das Europa zurückbuchstabieren lässt ─ wer weiss, wie weit zurück? In bessere Zeiten zumindest der Lautmalerei, der Schallnachahmung und der Klangnachbildung scheint zurzeit die griechische Lyrik aufzubrechen ─ editorisch registriert wird das in England.
Die hervorragende Neogräzistin Karen Van Dyck, Professorin an der Columbia Universität in New York, hat vier Dutzend griechische Lyrikerinnen und Lyriker aufgespürt und teilweise gleich selbst ins Englische übersetzt, die im weiteren Sinne das Leben in den Jahren der griechischen Austerität tragisch besingen; Jahre, da vor den eigenen Küsten Abertausende von Flüchtlingen ertrinken.
Van Dyck hat mit sicherer Hand auch jene Stimmen in ihren sehr lesenswerten Band (Englisch/Griechisch) aufgenommen, die von den geografischen Rändern her auf Griechisch zu vernehmen sind oder die kurdische Griechin Hiva Panahi (Iran). Von ihr stammt das Gedicht «Ein Mensch aus Asche», das auch in dem Sammelband zu finden ist: Träume kommen von weither / Die Steine, die Vögel und ich nehmen neue Lebensformen an / Träume haben ihren eigenen Weg / Wir leben nun wie entfernte Träume........."

Perikles Monioudis
(Übertr. der Gedichte a. d. Griech.)

 http://www.neue-telegramme.ch/7034279/nichts-zu-verlieren

Μικρές Γκρίνιες Μιας Γυναίκας, Χίβα Παναχί

Η υψηλή αρετή είναι το δάκρυ να ακολουθείς το φως και μόνο φως.

Φευγαλέο και συχνά άπιαστο.  Έχει σχήμα, τρέχεις να το  προφτάσεις. Ένα σχήμα φευγαλέο, αμυδρό σκοτεινό, μια βαριά πρόκληση.  Μια πνοή, αναμένοντας τον θάνατο, την παύση σου ως  χαρά.  Ένα περιεχόμενο να εμβαθύνεις όσο πιο πολύ.  Εκεί στο βαθύ σκοτάδι μεγαλώνει η πίστη.  Εκεί στο φευγαλέο, στην δημιουργία, στην χαρά να ρέει η ζωή…..  

18.8.2016