"Handful of Salt" by Kajal Ahmad

Kajal Ahmad, Handful of Salt. Translated into English by Alana Marie Levinson-LaBrosse, Mewan Nahro Said, Darya Abdul-Karim Ali Najm, and Barbara Goldberg. Word Works, 2016.

Discussed at our Book Club on  July 11, 2023. The author joined us from Silêmanî. She spoke in Sorani and was translated by Yuksel and ­­­­­Rozan.

Kajal Ahmad was born in Kirkuk in 1967 and began writing poetry as a teen. She has to date published seven books of poetry and has been anthologized in collections of Iraqi poetry.

She is also a journalist, writing social commentary and analysis on women’s issues and on politics. For more than ten years she was editor in chief of the daily newspaper of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.  He has hosted TV programs broadcast over Kurdsat. She is committed to preserving Kurdish culture, to liberating Kurdistan, and to achieving gender equality. She lives and works in Silêmanî.

We discussed the poem “The Button,” in which a woman loses a button on her blouse. The men around her are more concerned with preserving her innocence, lest some skin might be showing. But it’s not shameful, the button just popped.

We discussed her comparisons between Kurdistan and women.  She feels that Kurds embody power and strength—after all, they stood up to ISIS.  Kurds have displayed such strength and courage throughout history. Ahmad argues that over history women have said yes, but at this point in history it is time for women to say no.

Women have a different type of strength and power. Contrary to what men may think, women are not small. They have the power to  change the minds of men even with a kiss.

Now we teach women to be free and strong, but we don’t teach men to be there and love strong women  or free women. We need to teach men to appreciate women’s freedom.

Ahmad lived for some time in Amman, Jordan, where she found the Kurdish community.  She’s currently researching the history of Kurds in Jordan, dating back to the 12th century. She’s planning to write a book on the subject. Kurds there are proud of their Kurdishness, she feels, but they are missing something that because they haven’t been in Kurdistan. She wants to unearth that history and show what people in that area have done.

The book is available for purchase here.