Sonia Rafeek

Sonia Rafeek is a UAE-based Malayalam short-story writer, novelist and translator. Her 

debut novel Herbarium secured the 2016 DC Books Literature Award and the Nooranad 

Haneefa Award in 2018. Herbarium is also a part of the Bachelor of Arts in Malayalam Literature curriculum at Kerala University. 

Sonia’s latest novel Penkuttikalude veedu (‘House of Girls’) narrates the fascinating life stories of Emirati women in the early 1950s. She also authored the novel (53) (2019). Her translations include short stories of Kate Chopin and of Clarice Lispector, and Elif Shafak’s The Architect’s Apprentice and The Island of Missing Trees. 

Sonia is a native of Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala. She has a post-graduate degree in plant pathology from Kerala Agricultural University.