I was born in Zakho- Iraq. I grew up in two cities, Baghdad and Mosul. I earned a bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from Mosul University, Iraq. After that, I worked as a high school teacher, teaching physics, chemistry, and math from 1991 to 1998 in the city of Zakho, then I moved with my family (my husband and three children) to Turkey, and after one year, we moved to Canada as landed immigrants. In Canada, I volunteered at elementary schools to help teachers in classes for five years, then I stopped to start studying the career-and-college-preparation program at Mohawk College in Hamilton for two years. I was awarded a certificate in English, math, and computer science in 2008; during that time and after that, I worked voluntarily as an on-call interpreter and translator for three languages—Arabic, Kurdish, and English—with SISO in Hamilton until 2010 then with Interpreting and Translating Services Company in Hamilton until November 2012. I am also a member of Hate Crimes Prevention Program and Victim Advocacy Network in Hamilton. I write poetry, short stories, and articles in Arabic and English, which are my second and third languages, and I published two poetry books in Arabic—the first one was Swirls of the Rainy Honey in 2011 in Baghdad, and the other was Two Hymns of One Exile in 2012 in Lebanon. I translated a Kurdish novel (Groans) into Arabic for the National Translating Center in Cairo, Egypt, in 2012. I published a poetry book in English; it was In the Shade by the Xlibris Company in the United States of America. I published a short story collection in Arabic and it was Leads to Insanity in 2014 in Iraq. I volunteer to write in many Arabic magazines in Ontario and in numerous websites. My short story “The Devil’s wedding” won the third prize in a literature festival in Baghdad in 2010, and I was chosen as the best Iraqi poet and short-story writer of the year in Egypt in August 2011. I won the third prise for my short story When the Palm Sings in a literature completion in Baghdad on Feb. 2014. I won a prize for being an active woman and the prize was from Iraqi-Canadian association in Toronto in May 2014. I established Dijla Writer Association in 2010 in Hamilton, and I ran an Arabic literature festival in October of the same year, then I ran an evening poetry in April of the next year, 2011in Hamilton as well. I Participated in established a company for publishing and translating books in USA on October of 2014; it is called Oma Gate for Publishing and Translation. I participated in many Arabic literature festivals in Canada, United States of America, Europe, Egypt, Kurdistan and Baghdad in Iraq.
