Kurdish writer in Iran sells her books from a wheelchair
Shafaq News – Tehran / Sanandaj
In Sanandaj, the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province, Kurdish author Atiya Sheikh-Ahmadi has turned a sidewalk into her bookstore, selling titles she wrote over decades from her wheelchair after paralysis left her unable to walk.
Sheikh-Ahmadi has not found a publisher or cultural institution willing to back her despite having written more than sixty works. Instead, she turned to selling her books in the street to preserve what she calls “the breath of life” — the act of writing itself.
Although only twenty-six of her works have been printed so far, the absence of institutional recognition forced her to take on the role of a street vendor. “A cosmetics seller earns more than a bookseller. We are strangers in our own homeland, marginalized despite serving knowledge and culture,” she remarked.
The writer further denounced what she described as “cultural injustice.” “It is unfair to brand Kurds as violent, separatist, or hostile to the Persian language, when the truth is that many of us dedicate our lives to supporting Iranian culture and its languages, including Persian.”
Sheikh-Ahmadi urged authorities to recognize what she called the “true servants of culture,” questioning why cultural budgets are spent on “superficial projects” instead of supporting writers like her.
