Ismail Khalidi is a Palestinian playwright, director, and screenwriter. His plays include Tennis in Nablus, Truth Serum Blues, and Guernica, Gaza, which premiered at Ashtar Theater in Palestine in 2024 and is set for its London premiere at the Finborough Theatre in 2026. He has adapted two novels for the stage with Naomi Wallace, including Ghassan Kanafani’s Returning to Haifa. A collection of his work, Until I Return: The Selected Plays of Ismail Khalidi, was published by Bloomsbury in 2025. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is currently a Directing Fellow at Pangea World Theater.
From this author
Which comes first: shifting the balance of power or reclaiming the Palestinian narrative? Does the Palestinian Authority education system undermine the Palestinian story? Is there a place for the Israeli in the Palestinian narrative? How badly has the hegemonic narrative on Israel in the U.S. been shaken? These questions and more are thrashed out in this provocative Al-Shabaka roundtable.
