Amrou Al-Kadhi

Amrou Al-Kadhi is a British-Iraqi writer, filmmaker, and performer. Their directorial debut feature film LAYLA premiered in competition at Sundance and was picked up for UK release through Curzon, and has won a string of international sales in the US and throughout Europe. Amrou has several other feature films in development in both the UK and US. They are adapting their own memoir LIFE AS A UNICORN for Universal Studios / The Forge Entertainment, as well as the novel THE EXES for Fifth Season. Amrou is developing an original series with South of the River Pictures, and is writing a series for Pulse Films.

They’ve written a number of episodes for Hollyoaks, as well as the finale for the BAFTA-nominated Little America for Apple TV+ with Stephen Dunn, which The Hollywood Reporter described as one of the best 10 episodes of television in 2020. Amrou also wrote an episode for The Watch for BBC America, based on the Discworld Novels of Sir Terry Pratchett. Amrou has written/directed four short films, which have screened at Oscar and BAFTA qualifying festivals around the world, and have been distributed by Peccadillo Pictures, PBS, BBC4, NOWNESS, BFI Player and Revry.

LIFE AS A UNICORN, published with Harper Collins, was awarded the Polari First Book Prize and a Somerset Maugham award.

Praise for UNICORN:

‘This book is as rare, fabulous and beautiful as the creature it is named for. A masterpiece of psychology, a major study of Islam and a definitive study of drag, it made me cry, it made me rage and it made me hoot. Full of anger, insight and philosophy, along with some cracking great gags, this is a magnificent and essential document of the twenty-first century. It moved my heart and soul’ Russell T Davies

‘A heartbreaking, healing book. it will make you better' Simon Amstell

‘Astonishingly brave and engaging, Unicorn shows us a side of life seldom explored’ Joanna Lumley

‘Amrou’s book is slightly magical, I think. They are a survivor, a storyteller and yes, a unicorn’ Juno Dawson

‘Amrou's story is at times painful, at times hilarious, but always completely resonant. If you've ever felt like an outsider, or caught among several identities, this book is a light in the dark and a soothing balm on the pain of loneliness and alienation’ Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani

‘This is a masterpiece, an incredible emotional voyage, moving, funny, provocative, educational, a book you must read whatever your ethnicity or your sexual or gender identity. Beautifully written by an author whose voice must be heard’ Owen Jones

‘Amrou writes with a confidence and lightness of touch, meaning you will laugh and you will cry and you will see real tender moments in a life fully lived. An incredibly adept writer and performer, Amrou brings to readers an important story unlike anything else you will read for a long, long time, and yet so incredibly universal.’ Nikesh Shukla, author of Coconut Unlimited and editor of The Good Immigrant

‘Tender and hilarious in equal parts, this is a memoir like no other. A beautiful, honest account of what it is like to grow up between multiple expectations, and an uplifting reminder that it is possible to find happiness by being yourself. I was gripped at every page’ Angela Saini, author of Superior