CHRO IS MY NAME

This book is in part autobiographical. It is interiorly non-fiction. It recounts events in my life, in my beloved country of Kurdistan and in countries where I have sought refuge. It retails my life's journey, my transition from a land of peace and beauty to a country I had not initially chosen.

It was initially the title of a short story I wrote in 2008. It was published in Newcomer Magazine and later in a collection of short stories named JWAR, which I wrote and published in Kurdistan in 2010. Finally, it was in the School of Continuing Studies program of the University of Toronto.

My journey is not a history of my land. I experienced it in the land of history, in that cradle of civilization known as Mesopotamia. My journey is not a statistic or the number of a nation's genocide. It is not a history of the occupation of my land. It is not the story of a politician or religious belief. It is my memoir of my journey in life. I wrote this memoir for the sake of writing it and in order to share my journey with readers. However, the more I press the pen, the more details reveal themselves. The more I remember, the more tears I shed. It does not matter how much we express ourselves, write about, or relive things that happened to us. There are things in our lives that we won't relive or write about; more things will remain secret and go to the grave with us.