Gasham Najafzadeh

(Azerbaijan, 1959)

Biography

Gasham Najafzadeh was born in 1959 in Imishli in Azerbaijan. Hij studied literature en lectured at schools and universities. At this moment he teaches at Tafakkur university in Baku. He is also editor of poetry for the magazine Azerbaijan. His poems are regularly published in newspapers and magazines in Azerbaijan and other countries. They have been translated to Turkish, Russian, Georgian, English, German, Polish and Uzbek. He published thirteen books of poetry, short stories and a non-fiction book. He was awarded with the Tofig Mahmud prize for his children’s poems.

The first impression of Najafzadeh’s poetry is the modesty of his language. But beneath the surface of his words we encounter images and emotions that seem to come from a different age, accompanied by his main themes of death, war and love.
Najafzadeh writes in a simple and understandable manner, and it can take a while before his readers learn to appreciate his poetical, abstract truth. In an interview he once stated: ‘I’ve always loved contradictions and confusion, and I have great faith in uncertainty. It’s the only way in which I can perceive the truth.’

Although his poetry may seem quite ‘classical’ compared to modern poetry, Najafzadeh’s message is a timeless and essential one. War, death and destruction are issues that anyone in this ‘global village’ can relate to. Najafzadeh’s poetry is intelligent, gentle and sincere.

Publications (selection):
The picture of a sleeping sea (1991)
Side by side with a bridal wave (1994)
The fate of my poem (1995)
Smiling tree ( stories) (1995)
When I remember you (1997)
Farewell to life coming back again (1997)
Towards myself (1998)
And so on (2004)
Huseynbala Miralamov’s literary activities (2005)

[ Gasham Najafzadeh took part in the Poetry International Festival Rotterdam 2007.
This text was written on that occasion.]