Kirjahaku

Sabrina Mahfouz has been called ‘theatrical dynamite’ by The Independent and ‘[one of] our most interesting playwrights’ by Lyn Gardner in The Guardian. As a recent elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she is a playwright, poet, essayist, children's author and activist whose work explores a variety of mediums in challenging and genre-defying ways. Her first play collection brings together a unique mix of published and previously unpublished works for the stage, including a Off West End Award-winning play for children; a Fringe First award-winner; a BBC Radio & Music Best Drama award-winner and a Sky Arts Academy award-winning play. From the explosive poetic monologue play Chef to the rhythmic drive of With a Little Bit of Luck, this collection fizzes with infectious lyricism that captures Mahfouz's work for the stage in a variety of different forms, proving that contemporary theatre remains boundless in terms of its ability to spark debate and move audiences.

How You Might Know Me is a poetic exploration of four women s lives, connected through their experience in different areas of the UK s growing sex industry. Written following years of workshops and Sabrina s own experience of working in strip-clubs, the collection represents a broad range of backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and political convictions. The characters of Sylvia, Tali, Sharifa and Darina bring challenging and often unexpected perspectives on their work and lives to the reader in electric free verse and quieter, traditional forms. Examining taboos, surprising sexual encounters, the politics of desire, the vastly differing viewpoints on sex work and most prominently, the status of women s equality in the UK today How You Might Know Me is certainly a fiery collection of poetry from one of the country s most exciting new writers.

I want to be iconic. I want to be beautiful, reckless, feared, hated, ahead of the times. I want to be different, I want to be dangerous . . . London, 2001. Raves. Revision. Re-election.Nadia is swept up in one hot summer’s night of love that promises endless possibilities. Drinking, dancing, hope, ambition, lust, greed . . . and decisions that will determine the rest of her life.Rhythmically underscored by a live mix of old-school UK Garage, With A Little Bit of Luck explores the legacy of a cultural movement that defined the hopes of a generation. It received its world premiere at the Latitude Festival 2015 and then was produced as a tour by Paines Plough and Latitude from 13 April 2016.

Respect women, respect girls. Respect yourselves. Remember you are everyone who’s gone before you and you are nobody that has ever been, so make it count, make it special, make a difference, make people listen, love the women who have loved you and watch us make the world move to a better place. For Layla, every day is a battleground.The pay gap, the thigh gap, over-sexed pop and selfies that are photoshopped – they’re just part of the world she lives in.But that world is about to change.While breaking out of her bedroom – and with drama, comedy, poetry and music as her weapons – Layla breaks down and makes sense of the realities, difficulties and absurdities of teenage life in the UK today.Collected from a bespoke national survey, the voices of a thousand UK teens are brought to life in Layla. Their ambitions, concerns, role-models and regrets are woven together by award-winning Sabrina Mahfouz and theatre company Theatre Centre, offering a hard-hitting, yet hopeful, story.Layla's Room received its world premiere at Redbridge Drama Centre on 15 September 2016 in a production by Theatre Centre. It is ideal for students and young performers between 16 and 18 years old.

Can you hear it,the hiss of water wiggling its way out into the world uncaptured, wasted, wanton? British-Egyptian Sabrina Mahfouz grew up with ambitions of being a spy. She has two passports, speaks two languages and has a cultural understanding of two very different countries. But when it came to applying for MI6, it turned out she wasn’t quite British enough.So now she’s on her own intelligence mission – to explore who really holds the power in and over the Middle East. In a world long obsessed with access to oil, will water soon become the natural resource that dictates control, or has it been all along?A History of Water in the Middle East journeys across twelve different countries using theatre, poetry and music to share stories of women across the region. From the British Imperialist ownership of natural resources, to the environmental urgency of the present, water has shaped lives, policies and fortunes – and it will shape all of our futures.This edition published to coincide with the premiere at the Royal Court in October 2019.

A GUARDIAN CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019, this stunning collection of new and classic poems from around the world celebrates the diversity of life on our green and blue planet, to be shared with all the family. With new poems from Raymond Antrobus, Mona Arshi, Kate Tempest, Hollie McNish, Dean Atta, Sabrina Mahfouz and more.Dive into this book and be swept away on a journey around our green and blue planet, from the peak of the snowiest mountaintop to the bottom of the deepest, bluest ocean. Meet the birds circling its skies, the beasts prowling its plains, and the people toiling in its fields and forests and cities... Explore all the worlds that make up our world, and hear the voices, past and present, that sing out from it. From haikus to sonnets, from rap to the Romantics, this joyous collection celebrates life in all corners of our beautiful planet.

A powerful meditation on the influence of the British Empire in the Middle East, intertwining history, politics, poetry, myth and personal experience from poet and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz

A powerful meditation on the influence of the British Empire in the Middle East, intertwining history, politics, poetry, myth and personal experience from poet and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz

'Impossible to put down while you're reading, and impossible to forget about when you've finished' GlamourAfter a gruelling job interview where she was interrogated about everything from her political leanings to her family background, Sabrina Mahfouz realised that one unspoken question had pervaded her entire life: as a woman of Middle Eastern heritage, could she really be trusted?Years later, Sabrina found herself confronting this question and how it was specifically informed by the British Empire's historical dominance in the Middle East. Taking us on a journey of the Middle-Eastern coastlines and waterways that were so vital to the Empire's hold, and combining memoir, history, politics, myth and poetry, These Bodies of Water is a tapestry of writing that tells the unacknowledged story of Britain's relationship with the Middle East in the most revealing terms.'A writer of staggering conviction, ingenuity and integrity' Kae Tempest'Brilliant and profound' Nikesh Shukla'A bold, brave look at the ways imperialism affects us all' Riz Ahmed

A dynamic collection of three of Sabrina Mahfouz’s pieces for the theatre, published alongside a selection of her poetry.Dry Ice A critically acclaimed solo show about a young stripper, which was produced at by the Underbelly (Edinburgh) and the Bush Theatre (London) and directed by David Schwimmer. It played at the Contact (Manchester), the Soutbank Centre (London) and the Bush (London) as part of Madani Younis’s debut season in 2012.One Hour OnlyAn ‘upmarket’ brothel. It’s Forensic Biology student Marley’s first night at her new job and AJ – twenty-one, good-looking and intelligent – is her unexpected first client. One Hour Only formed part of the Old Vic New Voices' first ever Edinburgh Season at the Underbelly in association with IdeasTap.CleanZainab, Chloe & Katya, London's best 'clean' criminals and perpetrators of victimless crime, are forced together in an unlikely trio. This feisty trio soon become the unlikely action heroes of an adventure left to men. A short play commissioned by the Traverse Theatre, 2012, Clean was part of the A Play, A Pie & A Pint Season at Òran Mor, Glasgow and The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.

I cook here, create here,make here be as much of life as I canbecause outside of thisI’m not safe,I don’t know the way.Chef tells the gripping story of how one woman went from being a haute-cuisine head chef to a convicted inmate running a prison kitchen. Leading us through her world of mouth-watering dishes and heart-breaking memories, Chef questions our attitudes to food, prisoners, violence, love and hope. Inspired by an interview Mahfouz conducted with celebrity chef Ollie Dabbous, Chef studies food as the ultimate art form taking stimulus from Dabbous’s obsession with simplicity and making something the best it can be. Featuring Sabrina Mahfouz’s distinct, lyrical style in abundance, Chef received its premiere at the Underbelly, Cowgate, during the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning a Fringe First, and was produced at the Soho Theatre, London, in June 2015.

Sephy and Callum sit together on a beach. They are in love. It is forbidden. Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides. A segregated society teeters on a volatile knife-edge. As violence breaks out, Sephy and Callum draw closer, but this is a romance that will lead them into terrible danger. This gripping Romeo and Juliet story by acclaimed writer Malorie Blackman is a captivating drama of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world. Sabrina Mahfouz’s stage adaptation first toured the UK in 2019 and won the Excellence in Touring category at the UK Theatre Awards. It was commissioned and presented by Pilot Theatre in co-production with Derby Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Mercury Theatre Colchester and York Theatre Royal.