'It has received significant acclaim'
Bachtyar Ali’s ‘My uncle Jamshid Khan’ gets sixth print run in Persian
NEWSROOM — Kurdish novelist Bachtyar Ali’s novel, “My Uncle Jamshid Khan,” has been just had its sixth print run in Iran by Nimaj Publishing House. Each print run of the novel ranges between 500 to 1,100 copies.
Mariwan Halabjayi, the book’s translator, shared with 964media that the publishing process in Iran is complex, and reprinting works often involves ongoing struggles with publishing houses.
The novel was first published in Kurdish in 2010.
Halabjayi said out-of-print books can be overlooked: “Many books are printed daily in Iran, but it is not easy for publishing houses to reprint books. Sometimes, a work remains out of stock for a year and is not reprinted, which can lead to the books being lost due to the high volume of book printing.”
So far, Halabjayi has translated 10 of Bachtyar Ali’s novels into Persian, which “have received significant acclaim.”
He explained that the publishing houses responsible for the first print run often become reluctant to handle subsequent prints and are hesitant to grant reprinting rights to translators seeking other publishers.
The novel “My Uncle Jamshid Khan” centers on a character named Jamshid, who is swept by the wind. Jamshid Khan is portrayed as a character who, like a game, is moved by events rather than controlling them. The narrative explores how daily occurrences and historical catastrophes are perceived as something that happens to him and his surroundings, rather than something he can control. Jamshid Khan is depicted as a hero whose fate is more shaped by external forces than his own will.
Ali is one of the most significant contemporary Kurdish writers, renowned for his deep and critical engagement with Kurdish society and culture, which has played a pivotal role in shaping modern Kurdish literature. Born in 1960 in Sulaymaniyah, he has been living in Germany since the mid-1990s and has risen to prominence in the German-speaking literary world, having received the Nelly Sachs Prize and the Hilde Domin Prize.
Bachtyar Ali's sixth book to be published in German
