Henar Press

Henar Press is an independent nonprofit publisher of Kurdish literature based in Columbus, Ohio.

09/04/2026

Had the chance to talk to Chad W. Post (the least insufferable man in publishing) about Kurdish literature in the one and only Three Percent Podcast. We spoke about why I decided to launch Henar Press, our upcoming titles (GĀBOR, I Am Going to Kill Somebody, and Who's Afraid of Kurdistan?), the barriers of translating and publishing a heavily censored language, and more.

For those unaware, Three Percent refers to the statistic that only 3% of books published in the U.S. are translations (and that's a very generous estimate).

Chad's been working tirelessly for decades to bring more attention to literature in translation. He's the publisher of Open Letter Books via the University of Rochester (a phenomenal press dedicated to world literature in translation), runs the Translation Database (the only comprehensive database of literature in translation with tens of thousands of titles listed), and oversaw the Best Translated Book Awards among a million other things. Also, his Substack is hilarious and well worth subscribing to.

To call Chad an inspiration would be an understatement (that should be obvious given that we run our own Kurdish literary database). So, I'm immensely grateful to have been a part of such an important project.

Please give our talk (and the other episodes) a listen. https://threepercentproblem.substack.com/p/kurdish-literature-and-henar-press

09/01/2026

We are thrilled to announce that GĀBOR is officially out in the world and available for purchase via Thank you to everyone who made this day possible!

This novel is the English debut of Seyed Qader Hedayati, superbly translated from the Kurdish by Chiya Parvizpur and Hourieh Maleki Qouzloo.

Cover calligraphy by Ja'far HabibiRad.

Learn more and order here: asterismbooks.com/product/gabor

08/17/2026

Have you read these pieces from The Markaz Review's Kurdish Issue, HAWAR?

We're looking forward to featuring work by Zeynep Esmeray and Hoshang Waziri (translated by Hassan Abdulrazzak) in Henar Press's forthcoming anthology of contemporary plays, Who's Afraid of Kurdistan?

08/14/2026

Our inaugural publication, GABOR, will be releasing in less than 2 weeks, on August 25th! It's available for pre-order now.

This experimental novel is written by Seyed Qader Hedayati and translated from the Kurdish by Chiya Parvizpur and Hourieh Maleki Qouzloo.

Pre-orders immensely help publishers reach more readers, gauge print runs, expand distribution, and much more. Make sure to pre-order from the presses you want to support!

Learn more and pre-order here: asterismbooks.com/product/gabor

05/18/2026

Have you signed up for the Henar Press newsletter? Stay updated on our latest releases, events, opportunities, and more! You can find the newsletter sign up at the bottom of our website homepage: https://henarpress.org/

P.S. If you think you've already signed up, we recommend that you do it again since we recently revamped our website (and unfortunately lost our old list in the process).

05/05/2026

Henar Press is collaborating with The Markaz Review on their upcoming Kurdish Issue, and we want to hear from you! Submissions are welcome on their website by June 1: https://themarkaz.org/submissions/

We invite you to submit essays or creative nonfiction, short stories, poetry, interviews, reported pieces, art, photography, film/video, and more. The issue will be published July 3.

04/13/2026

We're excited to share that Firat Cewerî's novel I Am Going to Kill Somebody, translated from Kurdish by Jeannette Okur, will be releasing November 3rd and is now available for pre-order!

A subversive literary thriller on the absurdity of being Kurdish in an adversarial world, I Am Going to Kill Somebody will be Henar Press's second publication.

Pre-orders immensely help publishers reach more readers, gauge print runs, expand distribution, and much more. Make sure to pre-order from the presses you want to support!

Learn more and pre-order here: https://asterismbooks.com/product/i-am-going-to-kill-somebody

Cover photo by Murat Yazar.

04/11/2026

So fortunate to have been invited by the Harvard Kurdish Cultural Association alongside Holly Mason Badra to speak on Kurdish literature, Sleeping in the Courtyard, our forthcoming publications and projects, the database, translation, publishing, and more!

As a reminder, GABOR (our first release) is available for pre-order (https://asterismbooks.com/product/gabor). And please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Sleeping in the Courtyard if you haven't already.

Thank you Dalal Hassane for hosting and moderating such a wonderful discussion (and for finally giving me an excuse to visit Boston). ❤️☀️💚

04/04/2026

We're excited to share that Seyed Qader Hedayati's novel GABOR, translated from Kurdish by Chiya Parvizpur and Hourieh Maleki Qouzloo, will be releasing August 25th and is now available for pre-order!

GABOR will be our inaugural publication, and we couldn't have picked a more lively and experimental novel to represent our vision for Henar Press.

Pre-orders immensely help publishers reach more readers, gauge print runs, expand distribution, and much more. Make sure to pre-order from the presses you want to support!

Learn more and pre-order here: asterismbooks.com/product/gabor

01/30/2026

If you're a Kurmancî to English translator, get in touch with us!

We're working on our first issue for a soon to be announced project (potentially the first time a Kurdish literary magazine will be translated into English). Since the pieces are shorter, this is a fantastic opportunity to hone your translation skills.

We'll be translating essays, novel excerpts, short stories, poetry, philosophical musings, literary criticism, film criticism, art criticism, and more. It's hard to name a notable Kurdish writer who hasn't been featured in the magazine. Mehmed Uzun, Jan Dost, Farhad Pirbal, Firat Cewerî, Arjen Ari, just to name a few.

So, whether you're an experienced translator or just starting out, reach out to us via email or our website (henarpress.org) through the contact form. Or DM us!

It's hard to make a post right now that isn't centered on Rojava. Our mission will always be to keep Kurdistan alive through its people and their words. There's a beautiful piece by Rojava writer Taha Khalil that we'll be including in the first issue, so please be on the lookout for that.

Bijî Kurdistan and Rojava ❤️☀️💚

Address

Columbus, OH

Website

http://henarpress.org/

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