ICORN Writers: F - G - H - I - J

Click on the alphabetical list to read the writers' biographies.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Kosar Fattahi

For more than 18 years Kosar Fattahi has been persecuted for his writing. He was arrested several times for his use of the Kurdish language. In 1992 he was again the target of the Iranian authorities and he was forced to flee to north Irak as a UN refugee. He is a member of Kurdish PEN in Exile and the Association of Kurdish Writers in Iran. He is the current ICORN Guest Writer in Oslo City of Refuge.

Chenjerai Hove

Chenjerai Hove, former ICORN Guest Writer of Stavanger City of Refuge, was a senior literary editor with Zimbabwe Publishing House and a journalist. He writes poems and novels in both English and Shona. Hove studied literature and education in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He was president of the Zimbabwe Writers Union from 1984 to 1989, President of PEN Zimbabwe from 1990 to 2007, and a founding member of the Board of Directors of Zimbabwe Human Rights Association from 1990 to 2000. His novel Bones has won several international awards. Among these, "Best in Zimbabwe" Zimbabwe Literary Award in 1988, and the NOMA award in 1989.It was voted among the 100 Best Books of Africa in the last 100 years in 2002, and among the 10 Best Books of Zimbabwe in the last 100 years in 2003. His novel Ancestors won Second Prize from the Zimbabwe Literary Awards in 1997. In 2001, Chenjerai Hove was awarded the German-Africa Prize for Freedom of Expression and Thought from the German Africa Foundation. As a result of his criticism of Mugabe's current policy, he now lives in exile. Once a Guest Writer in France and Norway, he has later helped others to gain from his experiences as the Writers' Representative of the ICORN Advisory Group. In 2007, the play Travel News was selected to be performed by Norwegian Theaters for Youth. In 2009, Hove co-edited Writers, Writing on Conflict in Africa with Okey Ndibe. To read Chenjerai Hove's short story "Sacrifice", go here. To read "A Letter to my Mother", go here, and for an extended biography go here. You can also listen to Chenjerai Hove read "Changamire" in his native tongue Shona here. Hove recently received a stipend from the The Norwegian Non-fiction Writers And Translators Association (NFF). He is working on a memoir where he interconnects his own personal journey with the political developments in Zimbabwe since 1980. 

Easterine Kire Iralu

Easterine Kiri Iralu, the former ICORN Guest Writer of Tromsø City of Refuge, is an author and lecturer in English literature who has been forced to flee her home in Nagaland. As someone who, despite her non-violent principles, found herself caught between the Indian government and the Nagaland separatist movement, she has had to live in exile since 2005. In addition to her writing, Easterine Kiri Iralu is also an active storyteller, who often includes musical elements in her presentations. Read her extended bio here.

Philo Ikonya

Philo Ikonya is a Kenyan writer, journalist and human rights activist, and presently Oslo City of Refuge's Guest Writer. She holds a masters degree in literature from the University of Nairobi, and is president of Kenyan PEN. Ikonya has written articles for journals, web magazines and blogs, often commenting on the social and political situation in Kenya. She has also written poetry and novels, among these, the novel "Kenya, will you marry me".  She has worked as a lecturer of semiotics at Tangaza College of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, and as a a socio-political commentator in both radio and television. Philo Ikonya was threatened and harassed for her work and political activism, and can no longer work in Kenya.

Hossein Heydari

The Kurdish journalist, director and actor from Iran was one of the founders of "Andeshe", a Kurdish-Persian journal, in 1997. He also worked as a journalist in "Tishk" and "Aso", and was part of a theater group in Mariwan. He has taken part in, and won awards at, several culture festivals as an actor in and a director of plays and films. In 2007, Heidary fled to Southern Kurdistan (Iraq) when the Iranian government arrested his friend Adnan Hassanpour and sentenced him to death. Heidary has since been an active participant in the campaign for Hassanpour, whose sentence has been turned into a lifelong prison term as a result of the campaign. While in exile, Heidary works with the Kurdish-Pershian Xorhelat website, and continues to actively support persecuted writers.

 Amin Ghazaei

Amin Ghazaei from Iran is an activist of the leftist student movement in Iran and a writer and journalist with a broad curriculum of articles in different Iranian journals. For his political activities and writings, he was arrested 2007 by the Iranian government, interrogated and tortured. Next to his political engagement, he is accepted as one of Iran's prominent theoreticians in the fields of philosophy, feminism, and Marxism, where he has written and translated an acknowledged portfolio of books and papers. He is currently the ICORN Guest Writer in Amsterdam City of Refuge.