# Ahmed Masoud (writer)

Ahmed Masoud (born 1981) is a Palestinian and British writer, theatre maker, and academic based in London. He has created a number of dance shows and three plays Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea (2009), Walaa (2014) and The Shroud Maker (2017), and authored two novels Vanished: The Mysterious Disappearance of Mustafa Ouda (2015) and Come What May (2022).

## 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 an interest in 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. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and a Master of Arts (MA) in English literature from London Metropolitan University. He went on to complete 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 V. 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 at the Theatro Technis.
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, a satirical play about the titular woman named Hajja Souad, went on a tour of the UK. Also in 2015, Masoud's debut novel Vanished: The Mysterious Disappearance of Mustafa Ouda was published via Rimal Books. The novel was shortlisted for a 2015 Palestine Book Award, awarded by Middle East Monitor.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Israel's military occupation of Gaza, Masoud reunited with Amnesty International for his dark comedy play Camouflage, which was put on in May 2017.
The Shroud Maker was once again staged in 2017 at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) followed by a UK tour in 2018. It was also shown at Liverpool's Arab Arts Festival and workshopped in Manchester.
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. He was selected to be the writer in residence at the 2019 Bristol Palestine Film Festival.
In 2022, Masoud published his second novel Come What May. He also founded the PalArt Collective and Festival initiative. Masoud collaborated with slam poet Farah Chamma on the experimental show Passports, Mo Salah, Jinn and Other Complicated Things.
Masoud's play The Shroud Maker returned to the stage for the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

## 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.