is from northern Kurdistan, officially Turkey. Politically active at a young age, she was arrested and spent a long time in prison. She studied art history and worked for a short time as an archaeologist. She always had an interest in literature and won the second prize of a short story competition in Istanbul. While participating in theatre workshops she started writing plays herself, in Kurdish and Turkish. She also made short films and documentaries. Her political activities impacted her career, however, leaving her unable to realise her plans. She would like to continue working on her plays in Berlin – she has already founded a theatre company to perform them. She has been in Berlin since mid 2023. Leyla lives in a hostel. Her asylum application is still being processed.