Poet, photographer Bashdar Sami dies in Erbil at 41

ERBIL — Poet and photographer Bashdar Sami died Monday in Erbil after a prolonged illness, according to local reports. He was 41.

Sami, born in 1984 in Makhmour district, was regarded as a distinctive voice in contemporary Kurdish poetry. He published several poetry collections, including “Tomorrow Is Another Day,” “Going Toward the Esteemed Dead,” “Today Is Saturday If Nothing Goes Wrong,” and “I am Afraid of Flowers.”

His writing was known for themes of solitude and human suffering, delivered in a dense, tightly compressed style. He lived between Makhmour and Erbil before settling in the Kurdistan Region’s capital in 1999.

Abdulkhaliq Yaqubi, a Kurdish literary critic, described Sami’s work in a previous essay as building “a world of his own solitude and that of fellow solitary individuals,” adding that his lines were “extremely condensed in word choice,” giving his poetry “a simple yet intricate language.”

Sami had battled cancer for several years before his death.