The Shadeless Border - by Jiyar Jahan Fard (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Over a single day, a family faces grief and exile and history in a surreal tale set at contested borders.

On one side of the border, Azad's mother stands in her grief, waiting to bury her son. On the other side, his uncle and cousins wait with his body, barred by unrelenting guards from bringing him home without a passport. Borders are a thousand kinds of violence, a vicious declaration of who belongs and who does not. For generations, the Kurdish people have lived divided by these cruelties, carved out amid the ruins of war and empire. This is The Shadeless Border.

Over the next twenty-four hours at the crossing, an uncanny tale unfolds through a chorus of surprising voices: Death and the Border speak to us like old friends; a coffin and a stringed instrument, both carved from the same tree, remember Azad's family history. Set at the contested frontier between Iran and Iraq, Jiyar Jahan Fard's masterpiece is a work of haunting intensity, written along the delicate line between Kafka and Kundera, and tracing the man-made boundaries that define the reality of modern-day Kurdistan.

About the Author

His works include several collections of short stories and novels. Jahan Fard is recognized as a prominent figure who documents and publishes Kurdish folklore and cultural heritage in Iran. His book The Shadeless Border sheds light on the issues faced by Kurdish citizens due to the Iraq-Iran border, which has separated Kurdish people from each other.

Jiyar Jahan Fard is a member of PEN and lives in Munich as a Writer-in-Exile fellow from 2018 to 2021.

Chiya Parvizpur is a Kurdish writer and translator working in both Kurdish and English. His work has been published by Transnational London Press, Whisper House Press, Henar Press, and Common Notions. He is currently writing his third novel.