I am Fatemeh Ekhtesari, an Iranian poet, writer, translator, editor, and human rights activist based in Lillehammer, Norway. My work moves between poetry, fiction, literary criticism, journalism, and interdisciplinary performance, often exploring the body, censorship, gender, sexuality, religion, exile, and political violence.

I studied midwifery and worked in women’s health before devoting myself fully to literature. That background continues to shape my writing, particularly my attention to women’s bodies, reproductive rights, sexual autonomy, and the ways political and religious power enter private life.

I am associated with Postmodern Ghazal, an Iranian literary movement that challenges the formal and thematic boundaries of classical Persian poetry. My poetry combines traditional Persian forms with contemporary language, fragmented narratives, social critique, and subjects that have often been censored in Iran. My work has been translated into several languages and presented through readings, music, theatre, and other collaborative art forms.

I have published numerous collections of poetry and fiction in Persian and translation. Since moving to Norway, I have published two Norwegian poetry collections: Vi overlever ikke in 2020 and Hun er ikke kvinne in 2022. My other books include The Great Idol, Swimming in the Acid Pool, Naked, Tabar, and The Dead Who Was Dead, Took a Deep Breath. My poems have also appeared in international anthologies and literary publications.

My writing and activism have made me a target of censorship and state persecution in Iran. In 2013, I was arrested and held in Evin Prison. In 2015, I was sentenced to eleven and a half years in prison and ninety-nine lashes on charges related to my writing and artistic work. I left Iran later that year and arrived in Lillehammer in 2017 as an ICORN writer in residence.

Alongside my literary work, I write and speak about freedom of expression, women’s rights, gender discrimination, censorship, exile, and artistic resistance. I have contributed articles to media including Radio Zamaneh and have taken part in literary festivals, public debates, workshops, and human rights events across Europe and beyond.

I am the editor-in-chief of Independent Iranian Literature, an online Persian-language literary magazine dedicated to independent voices, experimental writing, and literature produced outside state-controlled institutions. I am also involved in Norwegian and international literary and freedom-of-expression organisations, including WEXFO, Norsk PEN, Norsk Forfatterforening, and Norsk Forfattersentrum.

My current work includes poetry, translation, literary collaborations, and a narrative non-fiction project documenting gender apartheid through the personal stories of women from Iran, Afghanistan, and other affected communities. Across these different forms, I remain interested in literature not as decoration or escape, but as a way of confronting power, preserving memory, and creating spaces in which silenced experiences can be heard.