Nazand Begikhani

Who is Nazand Begikhani?

Nazand Begikhani is a contemporary British writer, poet and academic researcher of Kurdish origin, and an active advocate of human rights.

Begikhani, born in Kurdistan by the steps of the Zagros Mountains, has been living in Europe since 1987. She received her M.A and Ph.D in comparative literature from the Sorbonne in France, and published her first collection of poems in Paris, 1995. She has published five poetry collections in Kurdish and Bells of Speech is her first collection in English. Two of her poetry collections have been translated into French, Couleur de Sable and Le Lendemain d'Hier. She has also translated works of Baudelaire and T. S. Eliot into Kurdish. Her works in English and French have been published by the Poetry Magazine, Ambit magazine, Poetry Salzburg Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Exiled Writers' Ink, Action Poétique, etc. Her poetry collections have been translated into many other languages, including Arabic, Persian and German.

Nazand Begikhani is also an active advocate of human rights and is a founding member of the network campaign, Kurdish Women Action against Honour Killing, later changed to Kurdish Women's Rights Watch. She has provided expert advice on honour-based violence to a number of government bodies, including Sweden, UK and Kurdistan. Between 2007-2009, she sat on the board of the High Commission to Monitor Violence Against Women in Kurdistan Region and participated, as an expert witness and independent observer, in its seasonal meetings. In 2010, she established the pioneering Gender and Violence Studies Centre at the University of Sulaimaniya, a two-year project funded by the British Council. She is currently advising Kurdistan PM to address higher education and gender in Kurdistan Region. Her work has had considerable influence on action and strategy to address HBV in Kurdistan. She has published academic work in Kurdish, English and French.