Shahin Shafaei studied English literature and theatre at the Arts Institute in Tehran. He was a successful playwright and actor in Iran until a ban on his work in 1996. He fled to Australia and landed on Ashmore Reef in June 2000. He was taken to the Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia where he spent 22 months, 10 of those months in isolation. His experiences in Curtin inspired his one-man play,
Refugitive. After his release from Curtin, Shafaei began living in Sydney on a temporary protection visa.
Source: Sydney Writer's Festival 2003 website
