Shada Mustafa

Shada Mustafa (شذى مصطفى) is a Palestinian novelist, best known for her novel ما تركت خلفي (English:Things I Left Behind) which was shortlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Literature 2021, Young Author category.

Early life and education
Mustafa was born in Palestine, studied architecture in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut before moving to Germany. She also has a master's degree in Human Geography from the Free University of Berlin. She took part in the Lund School of Architecture Spring Exhibition of 2017.

Career
Her first novel ما تركت خلفي (English: Things I Left Behind) was published by Hachette Antoine in Arabic and by Banipal in English (ISBN 9781913043261), in 2020. The book is fictional, although she described it as a fictional autobiography, and is about two Palestinian sisters with divorced parents. One sister falls in love with a man in Sweden. The book it set in 2000, and includes themes of Israeli occupation, family dynamics, and women's liberation. The book was translated into English by Nancy Roberts.

Selected publications

 * Shada Mustafa, ما تركت خلفي (English: Things I Left Behind), 2022, published by Hachette Antoine and Banipal
 * Lama Altakruri, Shayma Nader, Adele Jarrar, Shada Mustafa, Qusai Al Saify, Hiba Isleem, Jamila Ewais, and Fakhry Al-Serdawi, Reworlding Ramallah: A collection of Palestinian Science-Fiction Short Stories, Onomatopee (Germany) & Dar Laila Publishing (Palestine), 2019