Leila Hekmatnia

Leila Hekmatnia is a playwright, poet and filmmaker born on July 18, 1991 in Iran.

In 2009, she received the young award of the Kharazmi festival for her research on contemporary Persian neo-poetry. She went on to complete her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Tehran/Iran with an exceptional talents scholarship. The subject of her dissertation was New Historicism. After graduating, she received a scholarship as a top-ranking student and completed her Master’s degree in 2018. Her thesis explored the issue of human evil in modern tragedy from the perspective of Hannah Arendt.

Hekmatnia’s plays have been staged in various countries including Australia, Iran, France, Germany, Switzerland, India and Bangladesh. Her play Manus (co-written with Keyvan Sarreshteh) was published by Aurora Metro BOOKS in London/United Kingdom. Additionally, Hekmatnia published a book of poetry titled One of Them, which was nominated for the Journalists’ Poetry Award and the Iranian Women’s Award (Khorshid).

Throughout her career, Hekmatnia has received numerous awards, including the Fadjr International Festival’s award and the Narenj Short Story Biennial’s award. She is also a member of the National Elites Foundation of Iran and has written two short scenarios that are currently in production in Canada and Iran. Recently, she directed her first film.