Vivan Sliwa

Vivan Sliwa (1976) is an Iraqi poet. She was born in Baghdad in an Assyrian family and grew up in Enkawa in her grandfather's house. Her uncle had a secret movement opposing the Ba'athist regime, and her family, according to her statement several times, was tortured, persecuted and executed. This incident (the Ankawa massacre) was influenced by her personal life and literary career. She left Iraq for Sweden in 1991, across the Turkey border at the age of 15. She resided and obtained Swedish citizenship, and her first collection of poetry was published in 1997, followed by a tribute in 2003. Sinan Anton has translated some of her poems into English. Her poems have been published in a number of Arab and non-Arab newspapers, magazines and websites such as Elaf Hajar, Enkawa and Peace International. In addition to writing poetry in Arabic, she writes in Swedish and also writes some songs in her native Assyrian language. She lives in London and obtained British citizenship in 2017.

Biography

First years

In 1976, Vivan Sliwa was born in Baghdad from an Iraqi-Assyrian family and grew up in Enkawa in her grandfather's house, in northern Iraq, from Erbil province. Her uncle had a secret movement opposing Ba'athist rule and her father, "which had been wanted by Saddam's authorities since I opened my eyes to the world. He had to flee Iraq with my mother for the sake of their lives. But then I refused to run off with them and hid myself... Until my father reached a point where he couldn't wait any longer, and my mother left, so I stayed in my grandfather and grandmother's care and I considered them to be my mom and dad. It was only after many years that I fled Iraq to Turkey on foot many days later that I learned that Saddam's regime had executed my grandfather, my grandmother, my four aunts, my uncle, his wife and his child, who were only a few months old. And I dug myself into the depths of my soul, and I cried them every day, tears that later turned into words that lined up and drew my first lines of hair. "

Her beginnings in poetry: The Sadness of the Seasons

Since she was 15 years old (1991), she has been able to achieve a prominent presence in Iraqi poetry in a short period of time. I read Daouin to a number of Iraqi and Arab poets, including Badr Shakir Al - Siab, Sarkun Bolus, Al - Maha Abbas Amara, Mahmoud Darwish, Father Yusuf Saeed, Adnan Al-Sayg, Abdul Karim Kasad and Kazem Al awi.

According to Sabri Yusuf at the Elav site, it was published in 1997 by Abraham Ahmed. "The atmosphere of this cabinet has been dominated by spectra of all kinds of grief, and she has been able to translate her grief through intense poetry clips, expressing her excitement over the hills of memory in a new way.

Her second cabinet was published in 2003 in Damascus, where the poet addressed numerous humanitarian issues in addition to those of her homeland, Iraq. She was able to draw attention from Iraqi critics of literature, including Hatem Al-Sakr, who emphasized her "unique experience of creativity, her distinction in the ninetieth poetry scene." Others also praised her texts with lessons and analysis, including Abdul Karim Al-Kasad, the majority of the Shahbandars, Abdul Qadir Al-Jawabi, Father YSaeed.

Adnan Hussain Ahmed said of her poetry in her second Diwan, "Most of her poems have been tainted by the nature of deep grief carried out to the deep human soul, especially in her first diwan, the sadness of the seasons... Its second cabinet, Etienne, has shrugged off the gloom of its regressive brand to open itself to beyond-the-point artistic horizons. Technically, it can be pointed out that Vivan writes very focused poetic texts, and even reduces them to the maximum limits of shorthand, so many of her short short poems approach the atmosphere of wisdom or proverbial saying... Vivan is rooted in this type of writing on her Iraqi poetry peers, and I think she will dig her name very well into the memory of the contemporary Iraqi scene if she continues with this powerful momentum of reading, reflection.

Personal life

She resides in London and obtained Swedish citizenship in 1991 and British citizenship in 2017. Having lost a large number of members of her family, the sadness of her life became "part of my body or personal formation, only temporarily inevitable" and she was removed from publication and lived in isolation. In Sweden, the Celestial poet Kazem was one of her closest friends and helped her greatly to produce her first collection. In Britain, I was introduced to Adnan Al-Sayegh and Abdul Karim Kasad. She worked for a short time on Iraqi opposition television in London around 2001 but did not continue television long and was interrupted by the suspension of material support.

She joined Instagram early 2020.

Awards

• 9 September 2005: Gold Phoenix Medal for Poetry, at the International Traveling Golden Phoenix Festival of Culture, Arts and Media, London.

Writings

Some of her poems were published in Swedish in an anthology published in 1998 devoted to a number of Swedish poets. From her poetry blog:

• Sad Seasons, House of Exile, Sweden, 1997

• Udayan, Sinbad Printing and Arts, Damascus, 2003
  

References

This article "Vivan Sliwa" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Vivan Sliwa. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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