the eighth crossing

By Suhrab Sirat

co-translated by Aviva Dautch and Hamid Kabir

Suhrab Sirat is a poet, writer and journalist who works for the BBC World Service. Born in 1990, in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan, Suhrab came to the UK as a political refugee in 2014. His journey, along with those of other Afghan refugees seeking asylum, is the inspiration for The Eighth Crossing. 

Suhrab’s first collection of poems in Persian was published by the Balkh Independent Writers Association when he was just 19. His second and third books were published by Afghan PEN, a member of International PEN. His poems, essays and literary reviews have been widely published, in print and online, across Persian speaking countries. He has won several awards in Afghanistan, including first prize in a poetry competition organised by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in 2009, and represented Afghanistan at the Rio International Literary Festival (FLUPP) in 2013. Suhrab has also written lyrics for several well-known Afghan singers, including the first Afghan female rapper.