ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish writer and poet Yildiz Cakar has received special international recognition at a feminist poetry festival in Philadelphia. The organizers said they were moved by the way her selected poem addresses violence against women.
Named after Puerto Rican poet and activist Julia de Burgos, the Julia Vive Feminist Poetry Festival was launched in 2025 to address violence against women and highlight women's resistance through poetry. Its Special International Recognition award honors poets from outside the Americas whose work explores women's struggles and collective memory.
The festival selected Cakar's poem "Mohra Reş" (The Black Seal) for its Special International Recognition award in the "Poetry, Memory and Resistance" category, alongside works by 100 poets from around the world. The award committee praised the poem for addressing violence against women, femicide, collective memory and women's resistance through a distinctively Kurdish perspective.
As Cakar is participating from outside the United States, organizers will present her poem through a pre-recorded video reading during the festival's ceremony on November 13 at the Taller Puertorriqueno Cultural Center in Philadelphia.
Speaking to Rudaw’s Ferdi Sak, Cakar said she was proud to see Kurdish poetry represented at an international festival, describing the achievement as more than a personal achievement. "For me, this award is not just a personal achievement; it is an achievement for collective memory.”
She said poetry could bridge geographical and cultural divides, adding that Kurdish literature had the power to reach international audiences despite obstacles and pressures.
"Kurdish literature demonstrates that, despite all obstacles and pressures, it has universal power and can proudly take its place on the international stage," she said.
Cakar's poetry collection "Mohra Reş" was published in 2024, and its central poem was later adapted into a digital theatre project titled "Lockedown Locked In," which won the Best Original Screenplay award at the Athens International Art Film Festival.
Cakar was born in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir (Amed), southeast Turkey in 1978. She has published 10 books of poetry, fiction and research, with her first poetry collection, Goristana Stêrkan (The Cemetery of Stars), appearing in 2004. Her writing explores themes including death, exile, identity and oppression, often drawing on Kurdish oral storytelling traditions and collective memory. She has lived in Berlin, Germany, since 2018.
