Gaza playwright Ali Abu Yasin wins English PEN award

Ali Abu Yasin, a playwright from Gaza, has been named Writer of Courage 2026 by the literary group English PEN. The award was announced on Thursday in London. Abu Yasin, 62, began writing plays and mastering the oud as a teenager in the al-Shati refugee camp, one of the largest in the Gaza Strip. “This prize is great not only for me, but for Gaza, Palestine, and all the Palestinian people,” he said.

Abu Yasin stopped writing plays after the war began in October 2023, instead documenting life under Israeli bombardment. For the first two years, he wrote about the situation as Palestinians fled and feared for their lives. “There was no theatre; it was impossible to have a theatre because Gaza was being destroyed,” he said. Since 2023, more than 74,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and the majority of survivors have been displaced multiple times.

Survival and artistic persistence

Abu Yasin has worked with actors rehearsing lines in makeshift tents, against the sound of gunfire. “I was near death four, five times. I saw people around me die. We lived by chance, and those who died, died by chance,” he recalled. His son was trapped under rubble, and his house was bombed. For two years, he tried to provide safety for his family, protect them from famine, and document events. After a break, he wrote several screenplays, hiding and carrying them throughout his displacement.

His recent play, 50 Minutes, tells the story of genocide and mourning. It was shown in Gaza, with actors rehearsing in a makeshift tent in a car park, many without previous theatre experience. Abu Yasin left Gaza a few weeks ago with the support of an artist residency programme in France. “I didn’t actually leave the war. The war lives in me, Gaza lives in me,” he said. He still conserves small amounts of water and minimises waste, habits formed during the humanitarian crisis.

Recognition and legacy

Abu Yasin was nominated by British academic and cultural critic Jacqueline Rose, who won the 2026 PEN Pinter Prize. The Writer of Courage award is given to an author active in defence of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their safety and liberty. The award is shared with the PEN Pinter Prize winner, according to English PEN. Rose described Abu Yasin’s work as “a call for justice, a cry of outrage and a spiritual quest.” She added that he has been a consistent chronicler of Palestinian existence and a mentor to young people.

Abu Yasin has three children and 16 grandchildren, all in Gaza except his son Amjad Abu Yasin, an actor in France. “In Gaza, we have simple dreams. We want to live in peace and to live in freedom. We want the sky and the seas to be open,” he said. “We just want some freedom.”