Kurdish literature

Kurdish literature (in Kurmanji Kurdish language: , in Sorani Kurdish language: وێژەی کوردی or ئەدەبی کوردی) refers to literature written in the Kurdish language. Literary Kurdish works have been written in each of the four main dialects of Zazaki, Gorani, Kurmanji and Sorani. Ali Hariri (1009-1079) is one of the first well-known poets who wrote in Kurdish. He was from the Hakkari region.

Some of the earliest texts written in Kurdish are in the Hawrami dialects. The earliest of these are the classical poems attributed to Elder Shalyar the son of Jamasb, an ancient Zoroastrian priest who lived in the Horaman region. His works are said to date back to several centuries before Christ, as far back as 600 BC. His literary works are collected in what is called "marefat".

One of the first literary works in Kurdish is a poem from the 7th century, written in the Hawremani dialect. The poem, called Hurmizgan, talks about invading Muslims. Some of the well-known Gorani language poets and writers are Parishan Dinawari (d. ca. 1395), Mustafa Besarani (1642–1701), Muhammad Kandulayi (late 17th century), Khana Qubadi (1700–1759), Shayda Awrami (1784–1852) and Mastoureh Ardalan) (1805–1848). Zazaki and Gorani which was the literary languages of much of what today is known as Iraqi, Turkish and Iranian Kurdistan, is classified as a member of the Zaza–Gorani branch of the Northwestern Iranian languages.

A Yezidi religious work, the Meshefa Reş, is in a classic form of Kurmanji and could well have been written sometime in the 13th century. It is held to have been written by Sheikh Hasan (born 1195 CE), a nephew of Sheikh Adi Ibn Musafir, the prophet of the Yezidis. Based on this date, Meshef can be considered as the oldest piece of prose in Kurmanji.

...
Wikipedia