Ilie Shirin graduated with a BA in German and English with a focus in education in Dortmund, Germany and an MFA in Literary Translation in Iowa City, Iowa.
As she grew up in an Afghan family in Dortmund, Germany, Ilie’s passion for language and language acquisition started early. While living in Germany, she pursued a BA in German and English with a specialty in teaching. Her linguistic interest directed her academic path to the University of Iowa where she graduated with an MFA in Literary Translation. For her Master’s Thesis, she translated excerpts of Şeyda Kurt’s “Radikale Zärtlichkeit” (engl. Radical Tenderness) into English from its original German. At Washington University she will investigate translanguaging in German literature and expand her writing career as part of the International Writers Track.