Dilsa Demirbag Sten (pronounced "Dilsha") (born Dilşa Demirbağ, 10 October 1969) is a Swedish author and journalist.[1] A self-described liberal atheist, she is a frequent commentator on topics such as integration, honor violence, religious oppression of women and islamic fundamentalism. She is a contributor to the newspapers Expressen, Östgöta Correspondenten, Göteborgs-Posten, Dagens Nyheter, Fokus and Axess. She has also hosted an own television show on Swedish TV8. She is a secular humanist and a board member of the Swedish Humanist Association. She is linked to Kurdish recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Dilsa Demirbag was born into a Kurdish nomadic family in Kirvan, a small village in eastern Turkey. She came to Sweden with her family in 1976 (at the age of six) and grew up in the cities of Karlstad and Uppsala. At young age she was brought by her family into a forced marriage, but eventually managed to break the engagement and then moved to Stockholm. She has worked at Riksteatern, Amnesty International and as a special adviser to the former Swedish Minister for Integration Leif Blomberg. She is a trained informant and holds a Bachelor of Arts-degree in political science and history from Stockholm University.
Her autobiography Stamtavlor ("Pedigrees"), which deals with her family's background from Kurdish descent,[2] was published in 2005.
She has four siblings: Dilba, Dilnarin, Dilber and Assan. Her sister Dilba is a famous singer and her sister Dilnarin is a dancer who has performed on stage with artists such as Martin "E-type" Eriksson. She is married and has two children.
Contents |