Essmat Sophie Essmat Sophie (Asima) is an award-winning author, film director, researcher, translator, and activist. Born and raised in the Kurdish region of Iran, she later lived in the United States for several years before settling in Norway.
Essmat Sophie Essmat Sophie (Asima) is an award-winning author, film director, researcher, translator, and activist. Born and raised in the Kurdish region of Iran, she later lived in the United States for several years before settling in Norway. She holds a master’s degree in English Literature, American and British Studies, from the University of Oslo, another master's degree in Information Science from the University of Oslo and Tehran University, and a third master's degree in Social Science from Salt Lake City University.
Her latest books include Dancing Amid Fire, Rising Above Ruins (May 2023), Last Day of Autumn (2021), and In the Eye of the Storm (2013), which won the Ordknappen literary award in Norway. Her short story "Setar on the Mud Wall" is featured in the anthology Sleeping in the Courtyard: Contemporary Kurdish Writers in Diaspora, published by the University of Arkansas Press.
This collection highlights the voices of Kurdish women and nonbinary writers from around the world. She has also translated books and articles from English into other languages, including Women’s Journey from Shadow to Light, which she translated from English to Persian. Additionally, she has translated poetry by Sherko Bekas from Kurdish to Norwegian. Her writings have been featured in academic databases such as ScienceDirect and Academy Search Premier, as well as in various literary periodicals.
