Dr Shogufa Mir Malekyar 

Dr Shogufa Mir Malekyar is an author, poet, lecturer, humanitarian and public speaker. She is a lecturer in German literature at the University of Heidelberg.

She has published two books, The Voice of Heart, a poetry book in Farsi, and Socialization of Afghan Women: Learning and Education Processes of Migrants in Germany, and several articles. She is a renowned public speaker on topics of lifelong learning and intercultural communication.

Dr Mir Malekyar has travelled extensively to Afghanistan for teacher training programmes run by GIZ, a development agency that provides services in the field of international development co-operation. She has also led various committees and forums focused on issues concerning women, immigration and culture. She has worked at the Academy for International Co-operation as a tutor, delivering lectures about Afghanistan for Germans who wish to work there.

Dr Mir Malekyar was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, the eldest of eight children. Her family fled to Germany in 1982, where she applied for asylum and later became a naturalised citizen.

She earned her Master’s degree in German and Farsi Literature at the University of Heidelberg in 1991, and in 2016 was awarded a PhD, magna cum laude, for her research work in Education at Goethe University Frankfurt.