Leila Ghahramani

Leila Ghahramani is an Iranian poet, writer, and academic who first became active in poetry, literature, and writing in 1996, when she was 20 years old. Her work concerns the experience of being a woman in Iran, as well as exploring themes of freedom and love. In Iran, Ghahramani also taught Management at the Eslamshahr Islamic Azad University after obtaining a degree in Entrepreneurship and Business Administration from the University of Tehran.

In 2002, Simru Publications in Teheran published Leila Ghahramani’s first anthology of poems entitled Mochale shodeh-ha (Crumpled Things) which received widespread critical acclaim. She published a second anthology named Parvaneh-haye birang (Colourless Butterflies) the same year and has been awarded numerous prizes recognising her work at various literary festivals. In September 2015, Leila Ghahramani set up a literary centre Iranshahr which had regular sessions before being shut down.

Following threats and harassment, Leila was banned from teaching Management at the Eslamshahr Islamic Azad University in 2017. Later the same year, she was interrogated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and forced to cease all literary activity. Since then, Ghahramani has been unable to publish any work although she continued to secretly attend literary meetings and festivals.

After a year on the run with her husband and children, Leila and her family arrived in Fredrikstad, Norway, where she became the city’s first ICORN resident at the beginning of March 2022.