Sherko Bekas (1940–2013) published over twenty books and served as the founding chair for Sardam, a major publishing house in Iraqi Kurdistan. In his twenties, he joined the Peshmerga and fought the Baathist regime. Under severe political pressure, he sought asylum in Sweden from 1987 to 1992. His poems have been translated into Arabic, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Italian, French, and English.