Book about Kurds wins an award, is shortlisted for another

Critically-acclaimed Canadian poet, Patrick Woodcock, who has published two books about Kurds won an award and was shortlisted for another.

TORONTO, Canada (Kurdistan24) - Critically-acclaimed Canadian poet Patrick Woodcock who has published two books about Kurds won an award and was shortlisted for another on Monday.

You Can't Bury Them All, is described as “a poetry that is at once harrowing, angry, and achingly beautiful,” and is Woodcock's ninth book, published in 2016 by the reputable ECW Press in Toronto.

You Can't Bury Them All won the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design, for the design by Natalie Olsen.

The book is also nominated for JM Abraham Poetry Award.

Woodcock digs under the surface of objects and into the skin of locals. He presents to the reader not only what or who he sees but also “the shadows they cast.”

The collection confronts the borders, races, religions and whatever else manages to isolate human from human while exploring and bringing into focus all that connects us.

The poetry is praised because it "simultaneously explores hope and horror while documenting the transformative processes of coping."

"In Woodcock’s poetry, how we deal with what resurfaces is the key. What do those who suffer really mean to those who have abandoned them to small, conscience-soothing charitable donations or the occasional tweet?" the jury said.

You Can't Bury Them All stands out for showing more than what media portrays, putting a human face on impoverished regions and demonstrating that there is more to life there than deprivation and fear.

"In each of the worlds he touches, Woodcock discovers spirit and strength to celebrate," Poetry Award website quoted the jury. 

You Can't Bury Them All is nominated for JM Abraham Poetry Award and won The Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design. (Photo: Archieve)
You Can't Bury Them All is nominated for JM Abraham Poetry Award and won The Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design. (Photo: Archieve)

 

"Yan Kurdistan, Yan Naman," Kurdish for “Give me Kurdistan or give me death,” is the title of the first section of this book which is set in the Kurdistan Region. The other two sections are based in Fort Good Hope in the Northwest Territories of Canada, and in Azerbaijan.

Woodcock, who calls himself “an almost Kurd,” has lived in the Kurdistan Region and has been involved with the people, politics, and landscapes of the Region.

His previous collection of poetry, Echo Gods and Silent Mountains (ECW, 2011) was written fully from a Kurdish perspective.

Woodcock is a poet, wanderer, writer and witness who has lived in Iceland, Russia, Bosnia, Colombia, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Kurdistan24 reviewed You Can't Bury Them All when it was first published in 2016.