Asal Dardan was born in 1978 in Tehran and grew up in Cologne, Bonn and Aberdeen after her parents fled Iran. She studied Cultural Studies in Hildesheim and Middle Eastern studies in Lund. As a freelance author, she writes for Zeit Online, the FAZ and the Berliner Zeitung, among others.

She was awarded the Caroline Schlegel Prize for essay writing for her text Neue Jahre [New Years] and nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2021 and the Clemens Brentano Prize 2022. She lives in Berlin.