Kurdish-American author Karzan Kirkuki draws on his own experiences of war, displacement, and service with the U.S. military in his novel, Birds of the Mountains: A Novel of the Struggle for a Free Kurdistan.
Published in the United States and available through Amazon worldwide, Birds of the Mountains brings the modern Kurdish experience to an international audience through a story of love, persecution, survival, and the pursuit of freedom. Set against the turbulent history of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the Anfal campaign, Desert Storm, the 1991 Kurdish uprising and exodus, the Iraq War, and the later struggle against ISIS, the novel explores how decades of conflict shaped the lives of ordinary Kurdish families. The story concludes with the 2017 Kurdish independence referendum, reflecting the Kurdish people’s enduring desire for freedom, self-determination, and an independent homeland.
At the center of the novel is Karwan, a young Kurd growing up under Saddam Hussein’s rule. His grandparents are killed, his beloved Banaz is deported, and his father is conscripted to fight in Kuwait. Following the Kurdish uprising of 1991, Karwan and his family are forced to flee into the mountains, where he suffers a devastating injury. After U.S.-led intervention allows Kurdish refugees to return home, Karwan is reunited with Banaz, but their future is threatened by a powerful Ba’athist official. His struggle to protect her becomes part of a larger story about survival, dignity, and freedom.
Although presented as a novel, Birds of the Mountains fictionalizes elements of Kirkuki’s own remarkable life. Like his protagonist, Kirkuki was born and raised in Kirkuk during Saddam Hussein’s Arabization campaign. At eleven, he fled with his family during the 1991 Kurdish exodus and became a refugee near the Iraqi-Iranian border. While displaced, he suffered severe burns in an accident and nearly died.
Kirkuki later earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Baghdad. In 2005, he began working as a translator with the U.S. military in Kirkuk. He immigrated to the United States in 2008, became a U.S. citizen in 2014, and returned to Kurdistan in 2015 as a linguist and cultural advisor supporting U.S. forces in the fight against ISIS.
By blending fiction with lived experience, Birds of the Mountains transforms one Kurdish-American’s memories into a broader story of a people’s suffering, resilience, and enduring hope for freedom.
