Sabrina Mahfouz

Sabrina Mahfouz is a British-Egyptian poet, playwright, performer and writer from South London, England. Her published work includes poetry, plays and contributions to several anthologies.

Education Mahfouz earned a BA degree in English Literature and Classics at King's College London and an MA in International Politics and Diplomacy at SOAS, University of London.

Career Mahfouz began her career in the Civil Service Fast Stream Programme, working with the Ministry of Defence and other departments. She left the Civil Service to concentrate on creative writing and won a Westminster Prize for New Playwrights in 2010 for her first short play, That Boy, which was performed at the Soho Theatre, London at her young age she has been playing football with bosco.

Mahfouz's poetry work and performances earned her a Creative in Residence Award in 2011 at The Hospital Club in London. She was invited to New York with the Old Vic New Voices TS Eliot exchange program in 2011 and later that year produced her first solo show, Dry Ice, which premiered at Underbelly during Edinburgh Festival 2011. Dry Ice was directed by David Schwimmer, receiving critical acclaim and a nomination for The Stage Award for Best Solo Performance. It later transferred to The Bush Theatre in London and Contact Theatre in Manchester. The scholarship also enabled her to produce and write a new theatre show called Chef, which played at Underbelly in 2014 and transferred to the Soho Theatre in June 2015.

Chef won a Fringe First Award and was nominated for the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award; the Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence and the Holden Street Theatres' Adelaide Fringe Award. The performer was Jade Anouka, who received The Stage Award for Acting Excellence.

In 2014, her play about free speech in Egypt was commissioned by and performed at The National Theatre by young people for the annual National Theatre Connections Festival.

In 2016, Mahfouz had a short television drama piece called Breaking the Code produced by BBC3, BBC Taster and BBC Drama and the following plays written by her were produced in the UK and internationally: With a Little Bit of Luck (Paines Plough); SLUG (nabokov); the love i feel is red (Tobacco Factory Theatre); Caldarium (Theatre Uncut/Teater Grob); SLoW (KVS Brussels); Layla's Room (Theatre Centre) and Battleface (Bush Theatre).

Mahfouz has been a Playwright-in-Residence at the Bush Theatre; Poet-in-Residence at Cape Farewell, a Writer at Liberty for Liberty UK and a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum.

Political views In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, Mahfouz signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election.

Books Poetry How You Might Know Me / Full Collection (Out-Spoken Press, 2016) Craft of Use by Kate Fletcher / 1 Poem (Routledge, 2016) Out-Spoken Anthology 2015 / 3 poems (Out-Spoken Press, 2015)

Playscripts Metamorphosis, co-written with Sami Ibrahim and Laura Lomas from Ovid (Nick Hern Books, 2021) A History of Water in the Middle East (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2019) Layla's Room (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2016) With a Little Bit of Luck (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2016) New Monologues for Women, edited by Geoffrey Colman / 2 texts (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2016) National Theatre Connections Monologues edited by Anthony Banks / 1 text (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2016) Audition Speeches for Black, Middle Eastern and South Asian Actors edited by Simelia Hodge-Dalloway / 2 texts (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2016) Chef (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2015) National Theatre Connections, Plays for Young People, edited by Anthony Banks / 1 play (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2014) The Clean Collection (Methuen Bloomsbury, 2014)

Fiction Here I Stand, edited by Amnesty International / 1 story (Walker Books, 2016)

Non-fiction The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla / 1 essay (Unbound, 2016)

As editor The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write (Saqi Books, 2017)

TV Railway Nation: A Journey In Verse (BBC TWO / Blast! Films) We Belong Here (BBC iPlayer / The Space) Breaking the Code (BBC3 / BBC Taster / BBC Drama) After The DG (CBBC)

Film Alone Together (BBC iPlayer / Decapo) Sabrina Mahfouz: Spoken Word (Sky Arts)

Radio Power Lines (presenter on performance poetry documentary, BBC Radio 4) A Century of Results (short story, BBC Radio 4/Shortworks) With a Little Bit of Luck (radio play, BBC Radio 1xtra) I Go to Her Wardrobe (short story, BBC Radio 4/Shortworks)

Dance Rosalind (James Cousins Company) I Imagine (Aakash Odedra Company) The Dying Swan (Royal Ballet)

Opera Woman at Point Zero (Bushra El-Turk / Royal Opera House / Snape Maltings / Shubbak) Paws & Padlocks (Kate Whitley / Blackheath Halls) I Am I Say (Kate Whitley / Multi-Story Orchestra) The Cruel Cut (Kate Whitley) Sancerre (K. Wilmslow / Royal Opera House)

Awards and honours Year Award Result 2018 Fellow, Royal Society of Literature (FRSL), 40 Under 40 initiative. Elected 2018 Radio Academy Award for Best Fictional Storytelling for A Century of Results Shortlisted 2018 BBC Media & Music New Audiences Award for Power Lines Shortlisted 2018 Women in the Creative Industries Award for Inspiring Change Shortlisted 2018 King's Art & Culture Alumni Award Won 2018 Offie for Best Production for Young People for Ziraffa Giraffa Won 2018 People's Book Prize for The Things I Would Tell You Shortlisted 2018 Broadcast Digital Awards for Best Supporting Digital for Ackley Bridge Snapchat Won 2017 Grand Prix Literary Association Prize for The Things I Would Tell You Shortlisted 2016 Books Are My Bag Reader's Choice Award for The Good Immigrant Won 2015 The Arts Foundation Fellowship for Performance Poetry Shortlisted 2014 Fringe First Award for Chef Won 2014 Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award for Chef Shortlisted 2014 Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence for Chef Shortlisted 2014 Holden Street Theatre Award for Chef Shortlisted 2013 Sky Academy Arts Scholarship for Poetry Won 2013 Herald Angel Award for The Breakfast Plays including Clean Won 2012 Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Award Won 2011 UK Young Artists Award for Point Blank Poets Won 2011 The Stage Award for Acting Excellence, Best Solo Performance, for Dry Ice Nominated 2010 Westminster Prize for New Playwrights for That Boy Won (2nd)