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Sayed Kashua
Sayed Kashua (Arabic: سيد قشوع, Hebrew: סייד קשוע; born 1975) is an author and journalist. He is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, born in Tira, Israel. He is known for his books and humorous columns in Hebrew and English.
Kashua was born in Tira in the Triangle region of Israel to Palestinian Muslim-Arab parents. In 1990, he was accepted to a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem – Israel Arts and Science Academy. He studied sociology and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Kashua was a resident of Beit Safafa before moving to a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem with his wife and children.
Kashua became a journalist, columnist and screenwriter, especially of TV series. In 2002 he published his first novel, Dancing Arabs.
His Haaretz column of July 4, 2014 was titled "Why Sayed Kashua is Leaving Jerusalem and Never Coming Back: Everything people had told him since he was a teenager is coming true. Jewish–Arab co-existence has failed." It was published at a volatile time in the country's intergroup relations, involving the kidnapping/murders of Jewish students in the West Bank and an Arab youth in East Jerusalem, though prior to the July 8 outbreak of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. His declaration elicited numerous responses in the Israeli press from colleagues and readers who were concerned by the issues he raises. Kashua's concern for his family and despair at the Jewish-Israeli community's continued rejection of Arab-Israelis despite his 25 years of writing motivated his move to the United States. In his Haaretz newspaper column, he wrote that "I'd lost my small war" and that he saw no hope of a world for his children where Arab- and Jewish-Israelis could coexist.
Kashua accepted teaching positions in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and Chicago, moving there with his wife and three children for the 2014/15 academic year. Kashua began teaching at the University of Illinois through the Israeli Studies Project, a sponsorship program for Israeli writers and scholars run by Illinois and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. He served as a visiting clinical professor from 2014 to 2018. He participated in the Creative Writing program's bilingualism workshop at the University of Chicago, and was a clinical professor in the Israel Studies program.
In the summer of 2018, Kashua and his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, for Kashua to enroll in the PhD program of Comparative Literature in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and also taught Hebrew for the Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Near Eastern Languages & Cultures.
As of 2026, Kashua is a professor of the practice at Boston University's college of communication.
Kashua's exposure to literature began at the Israel Arts and Science Academy when he was 14 years old. After reading The Catcher in the Rye, he discovered a passion for books and began writing himself, primarily about the Arabic narrative in a Jewish country. Kashua wrote with the goal of creating a more equal Israel. His first novel, Dancing Arabs (2002), tells the story of a nameless Arab-Israeli attending an elite Jewish boarding school and code-switching between Arab and Jewish identities in an attempt to fit in. These semi-autobiographical themes of identity and in-betweenness, often packaged in the tragic comedy genre, became hallmarks of Kashua's writing. Throughout the years, Kashua's fiction often uses stereotypical characters – caricatures of Jewish- and Arab-Israelis – to both foster familiarity with his audience and subvert the perception of these identities in real life.
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Sayed Kashua
Sayed Kashua (Arabic: سيد قشوع, Hebrew: סייד קשוע; born 1975) is an author and journalist. He is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, born in Tira, Israel. He is known for his books and humorous columns in Hebrew and English.
Kashua was born in Tira in the Triangle region of Israel to Palestinian Muslim-Arab parents. In 1990, he was accepted to a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem – Israel Arts and Science Academy. He studied sociology and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Kashua was a resident of Beit Safafa before moving to a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem with his wife and children.
Kashua became a journalist, columnist and screenwriter, especially of TV series. In 2002 he published his first novel, Dancing Arabs.
His Haaretz column of July 4, 2014 was titled "Why Sayed Kashua is Leaving Jerusalem and Never Coming Back: Everything people had told him since he was a teenager is coming true. Jewish–Arab co-existence has failed." It was published at a volatile time in the country's intergroup relations, involving the kidnapping/murders of Jewish students in the West Bank and an Arab youth in East Jerusalem, though prior to the July 8 outbreak of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. His declaration elicited numerous responses in the Israeli press from colleagues and readers who were concerned by the issues he raises. Kashua's concern for his family and despair at the Jewish-Israeli community's continued rejection of Arab-Israelis despite his 25 years of writing motivated his move to the United States. In his Haaretz newspaper column, he wrote that "I'd lost my small war" and that he saw no hope of a world for his children where Arab- and Jewish-Israelis could coexist.
Kashua accepted teaching positions in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and Chicago, moving there with his wife and three children for the 2014/15 academic year. Kashua began teaching at the University of Illinois through the Israeli Studies Project, a sponsorship program for Israeli writers and scholars run by Illinois and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. He served as a visiting clinical professor from 2014 to 2018. He participated in the Creative Writing program's bilingualism workshop at the University of Chicago, and was a clinical professor in the Israel Studies program.
In the summer of 2018, Kashua and his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, for Kashua to enroll in the PhD program of Comparative Literature in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and also taught Hebrew for the Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Near Eastern Languages & Cultures.
As of 2026, Kashua is a professor of the practice at Boston University's college of communication.
Kashua's exposure to literature began at the Israel Arts and Science Academy when he was 14 years old. After reading The Catcher in the Rye, he discovered a passion for books and began writing himself, primarily about the Arabic narrative in a Jewish country. Kashua wrote with the goal of creating a more equal Israel. His first novel, Dancing Arabs (2002), tells the story of a nameless Arab-Israeli attending an elite Jewish boarding school and code-switching between Arab and Jewish identities in an attempt to fit in. These semi-autobiographical themes of identity and in-betweenness, often packaged in the tragic comedy genre, became hallmarks of Kashua's writing. Throughout the years, Kashua's fiction often uses stereotypical characters – caricatures of Jewish- and Arab-Israelis – to both foster familiarity with his audience and subvert the perception of these identities in real life.