Ayad Akhtar
Birth—1970
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Akhtar was born in Staten Island, New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a Pakistani-American family. Both his parents practiced medicine and Ayadh was supposed to become a a doctor too. He grew up admiring the films of Woody Allen. After spending most of his childhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he attended Brown University where he majored in theater. After graduation he moved to Italy and studied acting with Jerzy Grotowski for a year. He then returned to the United States to teach acting classes with Andre Gregory and earn his Master of Arts in directing from Columbia University School of the Arts. His first novel, American Dervish, was published by Little Brown Publishing in January 2012 to positive reviews from critics. It has been published in over twenty languages worldwide and a 2012 Best Book of the Year at Kirkus Reviews, Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Shelf-Awareness, and O (Oprah) Magazine. He is also a playwright and screenwriter. His stage play Disgraced played at New York’s LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater in 2012, and won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Who & The What premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in February 2014, and opened in New York at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater in June 2014. Lately, Mr. Akhtar has been working from his home in Harlem on his next novel, about a Pakistani-American artist living in Vienna. His aim, he says, is to “explore modern young Western-born Muslims living in a highly politicized anti-Islamic environment.” American Dervish |