Layla Hossein is a poet, translator, and editor whose work bridges Kurdish, Persian, and English literatures. Born in Mahabad, she emigrated to Sweden as a young woman and has spent the past three decades translating Kurdish poetry into Swedish and English.
Her translations have introduced an entire generation of Western readers to giants of Kurdish poetry such as Sherko Bekas, Abdulla Pashew, and the classical poet Nali. Her own poetry has been published in three collections and has been nominated for the Tranströmer Prize.
She currently divides her time between Stockholm and Sulaymaniyah, where she runs a small literary residency program for emerging Kurdish poets.