The Last Pomegranate Tree
Iraq

The Last Pomegranate Tree

by Bachtyar Ali

Family & Heritage Historical Fiction Literary Fiction 2023

Summary

After spending twenty-one years imprisoned in a remote desert prison, Muzafar-i Subhdam, a Kurdish peshmerga fighter, is finally released. His thoughts turn immediately to his son, Saryas, who was only a few days old when Muzafar was arrested. Determined to find the child he has spent decades imagining, he embarks on a journey through Iraqi Kurdistan, a land scarred by dictatorship, war, and political upheaval. But his search leads to a bewildering discovery: there may be three young men who share his son’s name, their lives intertwined by a history of violence and coincidence. Blending magical realism, dark fable, and historical fiction, Bachtyar Ali creates a dreamlike world in which memory and truth are difficult to separate. Beneath its fantastical narrative lies a devastating examination of how war destroys families and reshapes entire societies. Yet the novel also offers hope, suggesting that compassion, friendship, and love can endure even after extraordinary suffering.

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About the author
Bachtyar Ali
Bachtyar Ali

Bachtyar Ali (born 1966) is one of the most prominent contemporary novelists, poets, and literary critics writing in Kurdish. Born in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, he initially studied geology but turned toward literature after being injured during a protest against the Ba’athist regime. His writing blends political and philosophical questions with elements of magical realism, mythology, and allegory. Through imaginative narratives, he explores the consequences of dictatorship, war, corruption, and the struggle for identity in Kurdish society. Ali has published numerous novels, poetry collections, and works of literary criticism, earning recognition well beyond the Kurdish-speaking world. His novel The Last Pomegranate Tree brought him international attention through translations into several languages, including English in 2023. In 2017, he received Germany’s Nelly Sachs Prize, becoming the first author writing in a non-European language to receive the award. He has lived in Germany since the mid-1990s.

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Details
Published
2023
Author
Bachtyar Ali