Selma Dabbagh

is a writer who lives in London.

I write fiction and nonfiction and have lived in a lot of different places. My novel, Out of It (Bloomsbury, 2011), is set between Gaza, London and the Gulf. Over ten years later, in 2024 it headed The Guardian's list of five best books to explain Israel-Palestine. It has been translated into Arabic, French and Italian. I am also proud to be the editor of the collection, We Wrote In Symbols; Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers,  (Saqi Books, 2021). Described as 'groundbreaking' and the first of its kind etc the collection is comprised of over a hundred pieces by over seventy authors, writing in Arabic, French and English.

My short stories have been published by Granta, Wasafiri, Saqi, Telegram, PORT, PEN International and Comma Press.  A couple of my short stories were nominated for awards e.g. PEN and Pushcart.

I have also written pieces of journalism for newspapers and magazines from The Guardian, The Observer, Novara Media, GQ and other outlets. My background is as a lawyer, with a specialisation in international law.  I view the two professions as being distinct, in recent years, since the genocide in Gaza began in 2023, I have been drawing on both backgrounds for a series of blogs that I have been writing each month for the London Review of Books. My non fiction has also appeared in the Paris Review, Port, INQUE and in anthologies published by Bloomsbury, Canongate and Saqi.

I collaborated in writing the script for the Oscar shortlisted epic film Palestine 36 (Annemarie Jacir) and was deeply involved in researching the film's historical background. The film has gone on to be nominated for best screenplay at the Asia Pacific Film Awards and is currently leading at the 10th Critics Award for Arab Film. 

In terms of plays, I've written two radio plays The Brick produced by Sarah Bradshaw for BBC Radio 4, (2014) and a futuristic radio play, Sleep It Off, Dr. Schott produced by Jan Buck for WDR Germany (2018). In 2025, my first theatrical play Asmahan, was staged at Sadler's Wells (directed by Tanushka Marah).  I have worked on other productions for stage and screen (TV and film) at the development stage and advised on other projects.

My reviews of works of fiction, films, culture and plays about or by Palestinians have been published by The Markaz Review and The Electronic Intifada.

In recent years, I was honoured to write the introduction / forewords for the republications of novels I admire. Women at Point Zero, (Bloomsbury) by Nawal El Saadawi and The Lord, (New York Review of Books) by Soraya Antonius.

I hold a BA (Durham, Law) a LLM (SOAS) and a PhD from the department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University.

SELMA DABBAGH in the studio of Seboo Migone, Rome, by Tania Cristofari. Tania/FotoA3/contrasto