AZIZ GERDI
1947 | 06.06 2022
''Aziz Gardi, a renowned Kurdish author, who dedicated his life to writing has sadly passed away.
What pains me is that we do not celebrate them when they’re alive, but rather upon their deathbeds we realise they existed, and pay lip service to their contribution and their literary works.'' Ruwayda Mustafa
HEWLĘR - Southern Kurdistan — A prominent Kurdish writer and translator Aziz Gardi died in a private Jiyn hospital in Southern Kurdistan capital Hewler on Monday at the age of 75 due to kidney infection and failure, according to his family.
The well-known Kurdish author went abroad for treatment for kidney failure a few months ago, and physicians had to remove one of his kidneys after treatment. His only other kidney began to hurt a few days after he returned to Erbil, according to reports.
Gardi had been hospitalized for some time before his death. A health official in the hospital said on Monday that Gardi had suffered from a kidney infection.
Aziz Ahmad Abdullah, also known as Aziz Gardi, was born in Hewler in 1947. He lived in the Bahrkay district near Hewler and never married.
He has always enjoyed reading and began reading Kurdish and foreign literature as a teenager. In 1968-1969, Aziz Gardi’s first series of works, a book on psychology, was published. Later, he wrote books on comparative literature, Kurdish broadcasting, and classical Kurdish poetry.
Gardi has translated over 150 novels and pieces of literature into Kurdish language during the course of his life, including eight works by the feminist Italian writer Oriana Fallaci. Gardi also wrote several unique Kurdish books.
Aziz Gardi was an exemplary Kurdish scholar who was fluent in all Kurmanji and Hawrami dialects, as well as four world languages. He studied French at Baghdad University and spoke English, Arabic, and Persian fluently.
He was a Kurdish language lecturer at Salahadin University’s College of Arts. He later decided to devote his life to translating literary works. In 1999, he received his Ph.D. in literature.
Gardi was visited by a number of Iraqi Kurdish officials from KDP and PUK parties while he was in the hospital.
(ekurd)
Foundation For Kurdish
Library & Museum