A kaleidoscopic novel, investigating the nature of politics, narrative, and self-determination in the wake of the Islamic Revolution.

Poignant, psychological, and deeply political, Birds in a Gale is composed of the entwined stories of a writer and his characters in the time after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In this inventive metatext, lucidly translated by Chiya Parvizpur and Hourieh Maleki Qouzloo, the reader experiences the trauma and healing of a people reeling from a hundred years of repression and violence. 

As the author becomes one of his characters and a character takes on the role of author, we find ourselves in a realm of bittersweet dreams and historical nightmare, holding tightly to the evocative words of a writer at the top of his craft. Among the contemporary Kurdish writers spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Iran, and the global diaspora, none is more revered than Ata Nahai.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Author: Ata Nahai
Translator: Chiya Parvizpur & Hourieh Maleki Qouzloo
Introduction: Kawan Mohammadpur
Publisher: Common Notions
ISBN: 9781945335457
Published: November 25, 2025
Format: Paperback
Size: 5.5 in X 8.5 in
Page count: 176
Subjects: Fiction / Political

About THE AUTHOR

Ata Nahai is a Kurdish novelist and short story writer who writes in Sorani Kurdish. His writing has been translated into Persian, Arabic, Kurdmanji, and English. He has been awarded the Aras Prize for Kurdish literature and the Ahmad Hardi Prize for Creativity in Sulaymaniyah. The Persian translation of his last novel, Betting on Helaleh’s Life, won the best fiction prize of the year in Iran. 

Chiya Parvizpur is a Kurdish writer and translator working in both Kurdish and English. His work has been published by Transnational London Press, Whisper House Press, Henar Press, and Common Notions. He is currently writing his third novel. 

Hourieh Maleki Qouzloo is a multilingual writer, translator, and researcher with over two decades of teaching experience across language and literature. She is currently pursuing research on cultural hybridity in migration literature.