Dr. Sharifa Sharif was born and raised in Afghanistan, where she and her family lived in many urban and rural areas. Dr. Sharif studied Pashto Literature at the University of Kabul and, later, Comparative Literature at University of Illinois, in the United States, where she became immersed in issues of feminism, justice and freedom. Since then, she has become a dual Afghan-Canadian citizen and has worked as a writer and teacher at Seneca and Centennial College. She has also worked as a counselor for abused women, a cultural advisor, a radio host, and a politician. Living in the Greater Toronto Area since 1991, Dr. Sharif works as a community activist and cultural advisor on Afghanistan. As an author, Dr. Sharif continues to produce original work, and has recently published a collection of short stories in Pashto called Chaa w Chaa Weyel, meaning ‘So and So was Saying,” a line from a regional song in Pashto. This collection has been well received by young women inside the country and will launch online in September 2023. She is currently working on another book of short stories in English which mostly tells stories of women’s resilience and defying migration inside the family and outside in a larger society, both in the country and in exile.
