Draft:Ahmed Masoud (writer)

Ahmed Masoud (born 1980/1981) is a Palestinian and British writer, theatre maker, and academic based in London.

Early life
Masoud was born in Gaza; shortly after his birth, the hospital he was born in was raided by the IDF. As a result of the chaos, it is uncertain if Masoud went home with his biological parents that night. Nonetheless, he had a mostly happy childhood and a large family with five sisters and six brothers, and has refrained from taking a DNA test to find out.

Masoud grew up in Jabalia Refugee Camp. His paternal family were originally from the village of Deir Sneid, and his grandfather had owned a stone house and farms in Jerusalem prior to the Nakba. With a love for bands such as Queen and writers like Charles Dickens, Masoud learned English at a young age and went on to study English literature at Al-Azhar University. At age 20 in 2002, he moved to London, where he completed his PhD in comparative literature at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Career
In 2005, Masoud founded the dabke dance company Al Zaytouna, partially to fund his studies, through which he directed an adaptation of Ghassan Kanafani's Returning to Haifa (2006) and Unto the Breach (2012), inspired by Shakespeare's Henry. In 2008, Masoud published a chapter in Britain and the Muslim World: A historical perspective. The following year, he collaborated with Justin Butcher on the play Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea.

On a grant awarded by the Arts Council in 2014, Masoud wrote the play Walaa: Loyalty about the Syrian refugee crisis. The play, directed by Richard Shannon, premiered at the New Diorama Theatre. His following play The Shroud Maker with Amnesty International went on a tour of the UK. Also in 2015, Masoud's debut novel Vanished: The Mysterious Disappearance of Mustafa Ouda was published.

Camouflage

Masoud has been a lecturer at the University of the Arts London, as well as head of international partnership development at Oxford Brookes University for nine years and, as of 2019, head of Regent's University London's international partnerships office. He joined the University of Plymouth's Displacement Studies Research Network.

In 2022, Masoud founded the PalArt Collective and Festival initiative. Masoud has collaborated with slam poet Farah Chamma on

Personal life
Masoud is based in Holloway, London and a naturalised British citizen. He married Heather Gardner, with whom he has a son and a daughter.

In 2023, the IDF destroyed the Jabalia cemetery where Masoud's father was buried. In 2024, Masoud's brother Khalid lost his leg and eventually succumbed to his injuries, leaving behind his young children. In May 2024, Masoud called on Parliament to offer a visa route for families of British nationals stuck in Gaza similar to the route offered to Ukrainian families. He expressed concern for his sister Hind and her baby.

Novels

 * Vanished: The Mysterious Disappearance of Mustafa Ouda (2015)
 * Come What May (2022)

Plays

 * Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea (2009)
 * Walaa (2014)
 * The Shroud Maker (2017)

Short stories and essays

 * "Race & Identity in Early Palestinian Literature of Resistance" in Britain and the Muslim World: Historical Perspectives (2010) (edited by Gerald McLean)
 * "Application 39" in Palestine + 100 (2019)

Audio

 * Escape from Gaza (2011) for BBC Radio 4