On this day, thirteen years ago, the world lost a luminous voice in exile—Sima Koban, a writer, artist, and fierce advocate for freedom of expression, passed away in Paris at the age of 73. Born in Tehran in 1939 to a family of educated, French-speaking parents, Koban’s early life was shaped by both cultural richness and intellectual rigor. At just 18, she left to study in Brussels at the Royal School of Fine Arts, immersing herself in drawing, painting, engraving, and sculpture. But her path was never limited to art alone. At 36, she earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of Paris and returned as a professor of painting and head of the Department of Volumetric Arts at the University of Tehran.
