Meral Şimşek (*1980 in Mazıdağı, Turkey) is a Turkish-Kurdish writer and poet. She is a member of PEN in Kurdistan and in Berlin. She has published several volumes of poetry, novels and short stories. Her most recent publications are İncir Karası (Black Fig, poetry, 2018), Nar Lekesi (Pomegranate Stain, novel, 2018) and Arzela (short story, 2022). The Turkish government persecutes the writer and has accused her of terrorist propaganda. After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain political asylum in Greece, she is currently living in exile in Germany. Şimşek's work has received several awards. Among others, she was awarded the Hacı Bektaş literary prize of the Alevi Community of Germany and UNESCO in 2021 and the Theodor Kramer Prize for Writing in Resistance and Exile in 2022.