Homaira Nakhat Dastgirzada ( prs, حمیرا نکهت دستگیرزاده) (17 May 1960 - 4 September 2020), best known as Nakhat, was a well known

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. She wrote numerous pieces of

Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...

that were "very lyrical, with a lot of imagery." Dastgirzada was nicknamed the ''Blue Poet of Afghanistan'' (شاعر آبی افغانستان)

Biography

Homaira Nakhat Dastgirzada was born at Masturat Hospital in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

. Her mother was from

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...

, a traditionally popular city of

. Dastgirzada started writing poems aged twelve, which would later be published in magazines. She would eventually produce literary and artistic programs for Afghan National Radio and Television in 1983. She achieved a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

at the

University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

, Bulgaria. She played a key role in establishing literary program to students in universities and schools in Kabul, and was a well known public figure. She married in 1982 and has two children, Hariwa and Hajir. After the hardline

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

took power in Afghanistan in 1996, Dastgirzada secretely set up a women's poetry club in Kabul. She moved to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1999, where she settled with her family in the city of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

and co-founded the Association of Afghan Writers and Poets in Exile with other Dutch Afghan artists.

Poetry style

Her poems were written mostly in the form of

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

, specifically Persian

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

. Although they were deep about pain and sorrow, the main theme remained hope. They were about various topics including social issues, injustice, motherhood, nostalgia of Afghanistan, and new found discoveries in the Netherlands. A number of her works have been translated and published into

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. Many of her works also broke taboos and gave energy to Afghan women and poets.

Death

Dastgirzada died from cancer on 4 September 2020. Four days later, her funeral was held in

attended by 200 people. Then-President of Afghanistan,

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in L ...

, called her death an " irreparable loss to the cultural and literary community."

Published works

Fifteen collections of poetry were published (one posthumously). A list of selected published works by Dastgirzada: *''Blue shatt of liberation'' برخی از آثار چاپ‌شده او: شط آبی رهایی (1990) *''Strange song of exile'' غزل غریب غربت (2003) *''Around fire and regret'' به دور آتش و دریغ (2004) *''The displaced sun'' آفتاب آواره (2009) *''Nothing can be said in 50 years'' هیچ نتوان گفت در ۵۰ سال (2011) *''The bright alleys of the Netherlands'' کوچه های روشن ماه هالند (2011) *''Bitter in the fire'' تلخ در آتش (2012) *''White dawn'' ازسپیده لبریز (2013) *''Fantasy butterflies'' (2014) هستند *''Freedom'' *''The city is lonely''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dastgirzada, Homaira Nakhat 1960 births 2020 deaths People from Kabul 20th-century Afghan poets Afghan emigrants to the Netherlands Persian-language poets 20th-century Persian-language writers 21st-century Persian-language writers 21st-century Afghan poets