Dilruba Z. Ara (born 20 November 1957) is a Swedish Bangladeshi writer, novelist, artist, educator and translator.
Ara was born into a distinguished literary family in Bangladesh. Her father, Shahed Ali, was a Language Movement veteran, translator and Bangla Academy award-winning author of Gabriel's Wings. Her mother, Professor Chemon Ara, now retired, is also an acknowledged author and Language Movement veteran. She has three brothers and two sisters.
Bachelor of Education: Lund University, Sweden.
Alma Mater: University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Published in Chattahoochee Review, Drunken Boat, Asia Writes, Democratic World Magazine, Swedish Institute, The Daily Star, Shipwrights Review Vista and in anthology. Our Many Longings.
Ara moved to Sweden in 1978 and has lived in the university town of Lund since 2007. Apart from writing and painting she works as a language teacher.Her son, Navid, now an architect, lives and works in Malmö. Her daughter, Tania,now a Civil Engineer, lives in Copenhagen. Ara travels to Dhaka frequently, where her mother Professor Chemon Ara still lives in their family home in Banani. Her father Shahed Ali died in 2001.