ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Twelve-year-old Kurdish student Aya Sarbast Dolamari published her first book in English just a few weeks ago. It sold out in just two days.
“Since age seven, I started writing simple stories but I never thought of publishing them,” Dolamari told Rudaw English on Monday. “Then I thought to do something different and publish a book with my name to be the youngest author in Kurdistan.”
Dolamari, now in eighth grade at Sarwaran International School in Erbil, says she has been studying at the same school since kindergarten when she was just three-and-a-half years old and began learning English.
She says she came up with the idea to write a short story, called “Lucky”, and started her writing project one year ago.
Dolamari said she didn’t want anyone to interfere in her writing because she wanted to prove that she could accomplish something herself and showcase her own writing ability.
“I would like to mention that I’m sorry if I have any grammatical mistakes from now because it’s officially my first published book,” she said, adding that neither of her parents or her teachers helped her in editing. She did all of the research for vocabulary and grammar herself.
Her parents fully support her endeavors and her father printed 100 copies with his own money. Dolamari said he kept five of the books as gifts for family members and then sold the remaining 95 copies at her school for 3,000 IQD each.
“There was a big campaign to sell the book at my school,” she said. “Everyone was trying to come and buy the book because it was something really new in my school.”
“I sold the 95 copies of my book within two days,” she said. “Now many people and my family in other cities in Kurdistan and out of Kurdistan are asking for a copy.”
“Lucky”, a short story based on realistic fiction, follows the life of a girl by the same name from America who faces many tribulations with the tragic death of her father at a young age.
Her family was poor, but one day her father’s company gave them a large sum of money. As she grew up, she faced obstacles in trying follow her dream as a fashion model, while her mother wanted her to become a lawyer.
Lucky didn’t take her mother’s advice and tried to become a model, but was unsuccessful. She then met a man and moved to London to marry him and started a family. Lucky was happy to begin with, but soon sought extravagance – which also failed to bring her happiness.
“The message of this story is that your personal life is more important than wealth and money and anything else,” Dolamari said.
Dolamari said her father, Sarbast Issa, who is a principal at the Lavin Institute of Computer Science, plans to print another 100 copies of the book this week. Further copies could go on sale by next Saturday.
Her teachers are helping her to sell the books so the proceeds can be donated to children’s hospitals and orphanages.
“I’ll be having more projects in the future. I want to have a great benefit for my country,” she said.
She has great aspirations for the future.
“Because this was my first published book, I prefer to write simple stories so I can impress more readers,” she explained. “I also hope to publish novels in English that can be translated into Kurdish and Arabic.”
Besides writing her own short stories and novels in English, she also hopes to start translating books from Kurdish to English and English to Kurdish.
Dolamari has a message for all children in Greater Kurdistan.
“For all of the four parts of Kurdistan, for all the children, I would like to tell them that it is something so important to show your possibilities, your ability that you can do something and show the world what you can do and don’t let anyone dull your sparkle.”
Dolamari’s mother, Eqbal Aziz, headmistress of Dyari Fundamental School, said she fully supports her daughter as a writer.
“We support Aya in everything. She asks our opinion but we didn’t help her with anything in her writing,” Aziz told Rudaw.
Aziz also has a message for parents in Kurdistan.
“I say to all parents, let your daughter or your son choose what they want. If they want to be a doctor or artist or anything, let them do what they want, anything,” she said.
“In general, Kurdistan is not very open-minded. Not every family, of course, but our society is like that.”
“Parents might be ashamed if their daughter becomes a singer or an actor or something like that. It doesn’t matter. Let them be what they want to be.”
“Don’t interfere in their dreams, let them follow their own dreams.”
“Since age seven, I started writing simple stories but I never thought of publishing them,” Dolamari told Rudaw English on Monday. “Then I thought to do something different and publish a book with my name to be the youngest author in Kurdistan.”
Dolamari, now in eighth grade at Sarwaran International School in Erbil, says she has been studying at the same school since kindergarten when she was just three-and-a-half years old and began learning English.
She says she came up with the idea to write a short story, called “Lucky”, and started her writing project one year ago.
Dolamari said she didn’t want anyone to interfere in her writing because she wanted to prove that she could accomplish something herself and showcase her own writing ability.
“I would like to mention that I’m sorry if I have any grammatical mistakes from now because it’s officially my first published book,” she said, adding that neither of her parents or her teachers helped her in editing. She did all of the research for vocabulary and grammar herself.
Her parents fully support her endeavors and her father printed 100 copies with his own money. Dolamari said he kept five of the books as gifts for family members and then sold the remaining 95 copies at her school for 3,000 IQD each.
“There was a big campaign to sell the book at my school,” she said. “Everyone was trying to come and buy the book because it was something really new in my school.”
“I sold the 95 copies of my book within two days,” she said. “Now many people and my family in other cities in Kurdistan and out of Kurdistan are asking for a copy.”
“Lucky”, a short story based on realistic fiction, follows the life of a girl by the same name from America who faces many tribulations with the tragic death of her father at a young age.
Her family was poor, but one day her father’s company gave them a large sum of money. As she grew up, she faced obstacles in trying follow her dream as a fashion model, while her mother wanted her to become a lawyer.
Lucky didn’t take her mother’s advice and tried to become a model, but was unsuccessful. She then met a man and moved to London to marry him and started a family. Lucky was happy to begin with, but soon sought extravagance – which also failed to bring her happiness.
“The message of this story is that your personal life is more important than wealth and money and anything else,” Dolamari said.
Dolamari said her father, Sarbast Issa, who is a principal at the Lavin Institute of Computer Science, plans to print another 100 copies of the book this week. Further copies could go on sale by next Saturday.
Her teachers are helping her to sell the books so the proceeds can be donated to children’s hospitals and orphanages.
“I’ll be having more projects in the future. I want to have a great benefit for my country,” she said.
She has great aspirations for the future.
“Because this was my first published book, I prefer to write simple stories so I can impress more readers,” she explained. “I also hope to publish novels in English that can be translated into Kurdish and Arabic.”
Besides writing her own short stories and novels in English, she also hopes to start translating books from Kurdish to English and English to Kurdish.
Dolamari has a message for all children in Greater Kurdistan.
“For all of the four parts of Kurdistan, for all the children, I would like to tell them that it is something so important to show your possibilities, your ability that you can do something and show the world what you can do and don’t let anyone dull your sparkle.”
Dolamari’s mother, Eqbal Aziz, headmistress of Dyari Fundamental School, said she fully supports her daughter as a writer.
“We support Aya in everything. She asks our opinion but we didn’t help her with anything in her writing,” Aziz told Rudaw.
Aziz also has a message for parents in Kurdistan.
“I say to all parents, let your daughter or your son choose what they want. If they want to be a doctor or artist or anything, let them do what they want, anything,” she said.
“In general, Kurdistan is not very open-minded. Not every family, of course, but our society is like that.”
“Parents might be ashamed if their daughter becomes a singer or an actor or something like that. It doesn’t matter. Let them be what they want to be.”
“Don’t interfere in their dreams, let them follow their own dreams.”
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment