freethepoet

On August 21, 2024, the Parole Board denied the freedom of Ilham Sami Çomak who has dedicated his life to poetry, was jailed after confessing under torture to setting a fire during a protest in Turkey when he was 21…

Ilhan Sami Çomak, the Kurdish poet who has been in a Turkish prison for the last 28 years, was awarded the Metin Altıok Poetry Prize and the Norwegian Freedom of Expression Award (shared with Ahmet Altan, writer/journalist from Turkey). The…

I learned to read by reading the Bible. For me, the Bible was a giant black book with the engraved image of the Sacred Family on the cover. I used to love the words printed there with straight letters. Gold…

When I started writing this interview with Ilhan Sami Çomak, I imagined a way to escape from prison. If I were in Ilhan’s position, I think I would think about it all the time. Lacking any handyman skills, I wouldn’t…

This is the second part of our conversation with Ilhan Sami Çomak, who has been in prison for the last 27 years. Ilhan has written eight books of poetry. In part I of the interview, describing his situation, Ilhan writes:…

In 2014, After sixteen years in exile, I was able to return to my native Colombia. My mother was dead already, so the last time I saw her was the day in 1998 when I boarded the plane with the…