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Mam and Zin Cultural Center, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Kurdistan Regional Government, organized the fourth Mam and Zin Literary Festival in Media Hall in Erbil and awarded the annual prize to Mohammad Ramazani, a writer and translator from East part of Kurdistan.

On Saturday, October 14, 2023, the Mam and Zin Cultural Center organized the fourth Mam and Zin Festival in Erbil with the participation of some writers and intellectuals from all four parts of Kurdistan, and the fourth prize of the festival was awarded to the writer and translator Mohammad Ramazani from East part of Kurdistan.

At the beginning of the festival, Yaran Hiwa, Director General of Mam and Zin Center, welcomed the guests, explained the purpose of the festival, and said, "We hold this festival annually to serve Kurdish literature, culture, and language and also Kurdish writers, poets, and translators.”

Then a panel discussion on Kurdish novels was held with the participation of writers from all four parts of Kurdistan. In this panel, Abdulkhaleq Ya'qubi, a writer and critic from the East part of Kurdistan, spoke about Kurdish literary criticism and novels. He said that Kurdish literary criticism does not have a deep knowledge and is new and currently Kurdish novel criticism is finding its way; as a good critic of Kurdish novels, he mentioned the name of "Dr. Hashem Ahmadzadeh". He also said that literary criticism should be in such a way that it makes the reader aware of the text.

In the panel, Abdullah Keskin, head of Avesta Publishing House in the North part of Kurdistan, spoke about the situation of Kurdish novels and said that writing and publishing in the north is good in the field of poetry and short stories, but weak in the field of novels and need to be worked on. He attributed one of the main reasons for this to the banning of the Kurdish language in the northern part of Kurdistan in recent years. He then discussed the situation of Kurdish book publishing in that part of Kurdistan. He also briefly talked about the novels of Mehmet Ozun, a writer from the northern part of Kurdistan. His speech mostly included the introduction of the works of Mehmet Ozun.

In the continuation of the panel, Jabar Jamal Gharib, a writer from the southern part of Kurdistan, first talked about storytelling in religions and the presence of stories in religious books and thus talked about the importance of stories and narrative. He then briefly discussed the rise of the novel in the world and Europe. In his speech, he strongly criticized Kurdish society and said that there are very few serious Kurdish readers and there are many people who unfortunately make fun of Kurdish novels.

Later in the panel, "Jan Dost", a novelist and writer from the western part of Kurdistan, spoke about the importance of translating Kurdish novels into other languages and translating world novels into Kurdish and said that a large Kurdish institution is needed for this work to serve the Kurdish language.

During the festival, several pieces of Kurdish music and songs were performed by two female artists from the western part of Kurdistan, Nurshin and Parwin.

In the final section of the festival, the fourth Mam and Zin Prize was awarded to Mohammad Ramazani, a writer and translator from Bokan, the eastern part of Kurdistan.

It is worth mentioning that the Mam and Zin Festival is a literary festival of the Mam and Zin Cultural Center and is held annually in Kurdistan to promote and serve Kurdish literature and culture. Mam and Zin Festival prizes the annual festival award to a prominent and experienced Kurdish writer and translator who has served Kurdish culture, language, and literature. This festival is a bridge connecting literature and writers from all four parts of Kurdistan and tries to serve Kurdish culture.

Mam and Zin Festival Awards

2020: Karim Kaka, writer, and novelist from the southern part of Kurdistan

2021: Jan Dost, writer and novelist from West part of Kurdistan

2022: Jamil Kakawais, writer and translator from the southern part of Kurdistan

2023: Mohammad Ramazani, writer and translator from the East part of Kurdistan