A life across words and ancient worlds

She began writing poetry at the age of nine; her first poem appeared in 1993 in the newspaper “Edebiyat”. The female sensibility and critical voice she brought to Azerbaijani poetry were not welcomed in some circles, and during the Soviet era her poems went unpublished for nearly a decade — in those years she chose the pen name “Ateshi” (fire).

Close to a hundred Azerbaijani songs have been set to her poems. The composer Faik Sujaddinov set dozens of her verses to music, and “Neylersen”, performed by İlhame Guliyeva, became beloved in Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran. Her songs have been performed by Brillant Dadashova, Samad Samadov, Almas Elesgerova, Zohre Abdullayeva, Zaur Rzayev, Elza Seyidjahan and Ramal Israfilov, among others.

In 1996–1997 she created and hosted the programmes “A Bridge from Berlin to Asia” and “World of Love” on Berlin TD-1 television; from 1997 to 2005 she was an editor at the Hitit publishing house in Berlin and wrote for the newspapers Ayna/Zerkalo. She translated German poets and brought Azerbaijani classics (Nizami, Fuzuli, Nasimi, Mahsati) into German — collected in “Pervane və şam” (Mattes & Seitz, 2008) and “Orijinaldan tercümeler”. Her own poems have been translated into English, French, Persian and Russian. She received the “Golden Pen” award in 2004 and has been a PEN member since 2011.