“Vanished: The Mysterious Disappearance of Mustafa Ouda” is a mystery novel that takes place in the heart of the now destroyed Jabaliya Camp, through the eyes of an eight-year old boy, Omar. Through Omar, author Ahmed Masoud takes the reader through the alleyways of the camp, the terrors induced by Israeli soldiers, and the temporality of life, in search of his missing father.

Masoud grew up in Jabaliya Refugee Camp. His paternal family were originally from the village of Deir Sneid, and his grandfather had owned a stone house and farms in Jerusalem prior to the Nakba. With an interest in western music and writers like Charles Dickens, Masoud learned English at a young age and went on to study English literature at Al-Azhar University. In 2002, at the age of 20, he moved to London. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and a Master of Arts (MA) in English literature from London Metropolitan University and went on to complete his PhD in comparative literature at Goldsmiths, University of London.

In 2014, Masoud wrote the play Walaa: Loyalty about the Syrian refugee crisis although his first play in 2008, Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea, was about his home. His third play, The Shroud Maker, a satirical play about the titular woman named Hajja Souad, went on a tour of the UK with with Amnesty International.

Masoud’s debut novel Vanished: The Mysterious Disappearance of Mustafa Ouda was published via Rimal Books. The novel was shortlisted for a 2015 Palestine Book Award by Middle East Monitor.

Masoud has been a lecturer at the University of the Arts London, as well as head of international partnership development at Oxford Brookes University for nine years and, as of 2019, head of Regent’s University London’s international partnerships office. He joined the University of Plymouth’s Displacement Studies Research Network. He was selected to be the writer in residence at the 2019 Bristol Palestine Film Festival. In 2022, he founded the PalArt Collective and Festival initiative and published his second novel Come What May.

Helena Cobban is the President of Just World Educational and the Founder and CEO of Just World Books, proud publishers of Vanished. Helena will be our co-host for this virtual conversation.

Join us to discuss the book’s meaning and impact with the author, Ahmed Masoud, as he shares his novel, navigating life under occupation, and his lived experience of growing up in Jabaliya.