Art Persists is back with another episode featuring Kurdish poet and journalist Nedim Türfent.

The conversation focuses on Nedim’s recent release from prison in Turkey, where he spent 6 years and 7 months imprisoned for his journalism. We talk about his dedication to exposing Turkey’s brutal treatment of Kurdish communities which led to his arrest and subsequent imprisonment after an incredibly unfair trial.

Throughout the episode, Nedim talks about poetry as a form of resistance, something that kept him alive for all those years he was kept imprisoned and, for much of it, under solitary confinement. We are honoured to all hear Nedim recite two of his poems; Let My Heart Give Life, and Searching Trails of You, in English for the first time. Towards the end, poet Ege Dündar joins us to read the letter he sent Nedim on his release.

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Catch up on previous episodes of Art Persists.

About

Nedim Türfent is a Kurdish journalist and poet living in Turkey. He was born on February 08, 1990 in Hakkari province, on the border between Iraq and Iran.

He graduated from the English Language Teaching Department at university. Between 2012 and 2016 he worked as English news editor and reporter for Dicle News Agency (DİHA). He received the Musa Anter Journalism Award in 2015 for his video report "You will see the power of the Turk", in which Turkish police tortured Kurdish workers.

After the news report, he was subjected to systematic pressure by the police and threatened with death. He was arrested on May 12, 2016 for his journalistic activities. He was released on November 29, 2022.

His books named "Bird Mirror" was published in Turkey and "Über Mauern" in Germany. He won the 2022 Halkevleri Press and Art Solidarity Award. He is an Honorary Member of PEN England and PEN Melbourne. In the wake of 6 years and 7 months behind bars, he resumed journalism now. He is currently working as an editor at the Istanbul-based bianet.

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