Poet Sirwa Aziz’s work brings the experiences of
displacement and refugees to the international stage
A poem by Kurdish poet Sirwa Aziz has been adapted into an opera in London, bringing Kurdish literature to an international audience while highlighting the human experiences of refugees and displacement.
Titled Mending, the poem is part of a song cycle addressing the experiences of refugees and migrants. Inspired by the history of displacement within the poet’s own family, the work explores the lasting effects of war, forced migration, and the struggle to rebuild lives.
In an exclusive interview, Aziz explained that the poem draws on the experiences of her grandmother, who was forced to flee her village in Eastern Kurdistan after it was burned. Her grandmother first sought refuge in Turkey before eventually reaching the Kurdistan Region.
Aziz said that, while growing up, she often listened to her grandmother’s stories about the hardships of displacement, including cold, hunger, and the uncertainty of life away from home. Those memories remained with her and later became a source of inspiration for her writing.
The poet said these personal experiences also reflect the realities of refugees around the world today, many of whom continue to face uncertainty, hardship, and the challenge of rebuilding their lives.
The poem was first published in the literary magazine The Other Side of Hope. It was later selected by the organizers of the Freedom Cries Out program, which brings together the voices of poets from different countries through music.
Composer Raymond Yu adapted Aziz’s poem as one of five central works in the song cycle The Names of the Earth. Through the image of a mother mending a sock, the poem draws a connection between everyday acts of care and the deeper wounds caused by war and the destruction of homes.
The work was performed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in London, featuring soprano Samantha Crawford and pianist Burak Dyer.
Reflecting on hearing her poem performed as an opera, Aziz said that giving poetry a human voice carries particular importance in a world increasingly affected by political polarization and emotional indifference. She described the experience as a way of bringing humanity and compassion back to the center of public attention.
Sirwa Aziz is a Kurdish poet and writer. She is a Fulbright award recipient and holds a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Leicester in Britain and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the United States. She has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her poetry collection Remote was published in Britain in 2019.
Through Mending, Aziz brings a deeply personal family history into an international artistic setting, demonstrating how poetry can cross borders and connect people through shared human experiences rather than political divisions or statistics.