Aliyeh Ataei is an Iranian author and playwright. Her novels and personal essays tackle such themes as war, identity, and émigré life. She has received several prestigious awards, including Mehregan-e Adab for Best Novel. Ataei finished high school in Birjand and left for the capital to continue her studies at Tehran University of Art where she obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees in Dramatic Writing.  In late 2023, her personal essay, Stains, which was published by Southeast Review, received a Pushcart Prize nomination. Ataei’s collection of personal essays, titled Kursorkhi in Persian, was published in translated French by Gallimard in April 2023 to wide critical acclaim as La Frontière des Oubliés.