رامينا نيوز

In the last decade, there have been attempts to get Kurdish literature onto the international stage and introduce Kurdish novels, short stories, and poems to non-Kurdish readers.

Sherzad Hassan's last novel, Last Night's Appearance of Jesus, has been translated into German.

"Rawezh Saleem and Otta Canteralang have translated my latest novel into German, and it is set to get published in Fall by the Austrian Publisher, Verlag Klingnberg," he told Kurdistan 24.

The novel addresses various different issues ranging from the Kurdish issue, violence, women, and death to history and migration. It took Hassan 15 years to write.

"It was not an easy process," he said.

Hassan's fans celebrated the news, calling it a "success story".

"Sherzad Hassan is a great writer," Naza Khalid, a fan in Erbil, said. "His books deserve to get viral, not only in Kurdistan but the whole world. I think readers everywhere will enjoy his stories."

Last Night's Appearance of Jesus was published in the Kurdistan Region in 2016. It tells the story of a young Kurdish immigrant in Europe who sees Jesus coming down from the sky in 1997. In the novel's world, Jesus was supposed to come down in 2000 to talk about love and start a human reconciliation process on earth. But due to a mistake, Jesus came down three years earlier and showed himself to the Kurdish immigrant in an immigration camp.

Sherzad Hassan has published 25 books, including novels, short stories, and translations. He is originally from Erbil but is living in Sulaimani city.

Literary fans in the Kurdistan Region consider this attempt to be an important opportunity for the rich Kurdish literature.

"Not only the writer and the publishers here in Kurdistan but also the government should try to work better on the Kurdish literature, trying to make it known in the world," said Rasti Kareem, an avid novel reader and fan of Hassan's stories. "We have good writers, and the government should pay more attention to them because our literature is rich, and the world should know about it."

Kurdish novels have been translated into other languages such as Turkish, Persian, English, and German.

The Kurdistan Regional Government announced in April that it had devoted a budget for translating some of the Kurdish masterpieces into other languages.