Kawa Nemir (born 29 May 1974, Iğdir^[1], Turkey) is a Kurdish writer and translator of English language works into the Kurdish language. His translations include Ulysses by James Joyce and the play Hamlet of William Shakespeare. He was also the editor-in-chief of the Kurdish literary magazine Jiyana Rewşen.

He was born in 1974 in Iğdir into an upper-class family^[2] and attended schools for primary education both in Iğdir and Istanbul.^[3] According to an interview published in Voice of America, he was faced with assimilation and denial of the Kurdish nation in school.^[4] After he studied English language and literature at the Universities Hacettepe and Istanbul he also studied Ancient Greek at the University of Istanbul until 2002.^[1] He did not like several of his friends join the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which fight against the Turkish Army but chose to become a writer.^[4] In the early 2000s he moved to Diyarbakır.^[2]

Since 1997 Nemir was the editor-in-chief of a prominent cultural and literary magazine in the Kurdish language, the Jiyana Rewşen.^[3] Under his tenure, the magazione published fifty-two issues on a monthly basis until 2003.^[3] In 2012, his translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet premiered in the RAST theatre of Amsterdam, Netherlands. In this occasion he also performed the role of Hamlet.^[3] The play Hamlet was later staged on several locations and occasions by the Municipally City Theatre of Diyarbakir.^[2] In 2019, his translation of Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca premiered in the Amsterdam City theatre.^[5] Besides having translated many classics of Greek and Roman literature into the Kurdish language, he is also playwright and has adapted the Kurdish classic Mem u Zin by Ehmedê Xhanî for theatre.^[5]

• 2010 Vorlage:III award by the Kurdish Institute of Istanbul.^[6]
• 2018 Resident in the former home of Anne Frank by the Dutch Foundation of Literature^[2][7]

1. ↑ ^{a b} Kawa Nemir. In: Kurdilit. Abgerufen im 1. Januar 1 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Fréderike Geerdink: Kurdish translator Kawa Nemir vows to keep Kurdish publishing going from Amsterdam. In: Ahval. 6. Juli 2018; abgerufen im 1. Januar 1. 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Kawa. In: Urban Resort. Abgerufen am 17. August 2022 (niederländisch). 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Dorian Jones: Kurdish Poet Battles to Defend Language, Culture. In: Voice of America. 30. Januar 2015, abgerufen am 17. August 2022 (englisch). 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Kawa Nemir: Theatrical Adaptation of Tosca Opera to be Staged in Kurdish. In: Bianet. 10. Juli 2019; abgerufen im 1. Januar 1. 
6. ↑ İstanbul Kürt Enstitüsü 18 yaşında. In: Yüksekova Haber Portalı. Abgerufen am 17. August 2022 (türkisch). 
7. ↑ Kawa Nemir. In: Writers Unlimited. Abgerufen am 17. August 2022 (englisch).