Rênas Jiyan

Rênas Jiyan is a Kurdish poet, writer, and publisher from Turkey. Born in Qoser (Kızıltepe, Mardin Province) in 1974, Jiyan received his BA in Education from Dicle University. Doz Publications released Janya, his widely-read debut collection of poems, in 1999. In 2002, Turkish authorities in Mardin arrested him alongside 12 others on charges of studying the Kurdish language; all were imprisoned and tortured. Jiyan devoted his second book, Blood Bank (Belke Publications, 2003), to shining light on the social psychology of Kurds and his third book, a tragedy titled In the Toilet (Belke Publications, 2006), to studying human violence, evil, and wrath. On September 30, 2016, he was again arrested and imprisoned by the Turkish authorities, only to be released a week later on October 6. Jiyan continues to live in Turkey and write in Kurdish.

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