ICORN Writers: K - L - M - N - O

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

Mansour Koushan

Former ICORN Guest Writer Mansour Koushan comes from Iran where he worked as a theater producer/director, television screenwriter and novelist. He was forced to flee his homeland along with a whole generation of artists. Since moving to Norway, Mansur Koushan has been the artist director of a free theatre group and published his novels in Norway and Sweden.

Basim Mardan

Basim Mardan is the current Guest Writer of Skien City of Refuge. He is a writer, playwright and translator from Iraq. His story can be found in the Winter 2006 Newsletter and on the American PEN website .

Taurai Mbeve

. . is a pseudonym for a current ICORN Guest Writer whose identity cannot be revealed at this time. We hope that we will be able to present this person's real name and writing credentials in the near future. Please check back.

Musa Mutaev

ICORN Guest Writer Musa Mutaev, Trondheim City of Refuge was born in Frunze, Kyrgyzstan but was deported, along with his family, during Stalin's regime. He grew up in Chechnya and studied pedagogic at the university. He worked as a teacher, then as an editor for a literary journal Orga. He is an award winning short story writer and novelist.

Irakli Kakabadze

Irakli Kakabadze is a prose writer, performance poet and lyricist. He is also a passionate activist. He comes from Georgia, but currently lives in Ithaca where he teaches at Cornell University.

 Ayaz Khonsyawashan

The Kurdish poet and journalist from Iran has contributed to several Kurdish and Persian journals of literature, politics, arts and culture. Khonsyawashan became a member of the Mariwan Committee on Literature in 1991. Three years later he published the only journal using the Kurdish language in Iran at that time. Before having to flee to Iraq due to persecution based on his cultural and political activities, he took part in the founding, running, and editing of several cultural journals. From 2003 until 2007, he lived in Turkey, where he was a founding member of the Writers Union of Eastern Kurdistan, of which he is still a board member. He was initially invited as an ICORN Guest Writer by Oslo City of Refuge, but was not granted permission to leave Turkey. He was eventually invited to Bergen City of Refuge in 2007. Khonsyawashan has also written a novel, he is working on translating his poems into Norwegian, and he is actively working to help other persecuted writers.