The sound of gunfire often forms the backdrop for rehearsals in makeshift tents, where Gaza playwright Ali Abu Yasin continues to create art amid ongoing devastation. According to Al Jazeera, the 62-year-old artist has been honoured in London as the 'Writer of Courage 2026' by the literary group English PEN for his artistic resilience.

Al Jazeera reported that Abu Yasin began writing plays and mastering the oud as a teenager in al-Shati refugee camp. After the war began in October 2023, he stopped writing plays and instead documented life under bombardment as Palestinians fled and feared for their lives, telling Al Jazeera that he wrote "so the world can hear my voice before I die."

Al Jazeera noted that Abu Yasin worked with actors who rehearse in tents, and stated that the writer was near death several times, saw people die around him, and experienced his son being trapped under rubble and his house being bombed. Al Jazeera also reported that Abu Yasin wrote several screenplays that he hid and carried with him throughout his displacement, eventually leaving Gaza a few weeks ago with the support of an artist residency.

Background

According to Al Jazeera, Abu Yasin began working in 2004 with the Said Al-Mishal Theatre, a cultural hub in Gaza City that was levelled in a 2018 Israeli bombing. The Guardian previously received a letter from leading playwrights and theatre directors who described that attack as an "obliteration of this symbol of Palestinian culture and identity," as cited by Al Jazeera. In 2008, Abu Yasin began writing the Gaza Monologues, a series illustrating both joy and pain in Gaza. Al Jazeera also reported that since 2023, more than 74,000 people have been killed in Gaza and the majority of survivors have been displaced several times over.

Why it matters

For audiences in Pakistan and around the world following cultural developments and human stories from conflict zones, the recognition of Ali Abu Yasin highlights the enduring power of art and documentation in the face of immense personal loss and displacement.