Bobuq Sayed

Bobuq Sayed is an Afghan-Australian writer, poet and theatre-maker,^[1][2][3] who is the author of A Brief History of Australian Terror. It was recommended by ABC News as a "best new book" in 2024. Their novel No God But Us is due to be published in 2026.

Bobuq Sayed
Alma mater	University of Miami San Jose State University
Occupation(s)	Writer, poet, theatre-maker

Biography

Born in Australia to Afghan parents,^[4] they are member of the Afghan diaspora and are non-binary.^[3] They have a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Miami.^[4] In 2018 Sayed was a member of the theatre collective Embittered Swish, the group worked to create performances that expanded what was considered trans dramaturgy.^[3] This involved moving away, for example, from work related to transition or dysphoria.^[3] Sayed's work also featured in the 2018 exhibition The Third Muslim: Queer and Trans* Muslim Narratives of Resistance and Resilience held at SOMArts in San Francisco.^[5]

Sayed's writing is noted for its challenges to structural racism within Australian literary communities.^[6] They are also a former editor of Archer magazine.^[4] Sayed co-edited Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender Diverse Australia alongside Sam Elkin, Alex Gallagher and Yves Rees.^[7][8] They were a 2022–23 Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University.^[9] In 2024 they published A Brief History of Australian Terror,^[10] which was recommended by ABC News as a "best new book" in 2024.^[10] Academic David Coady reviewed the work as an "excellent contribution to an important topic", whilst suggesting that the work leaves many things unsaid especially the conflation of Zionism with ant-Semitism in Western thought.^[11] A Kundiman Fellow,^[12] their first novel No God But Us is due to be published in 2026.^[13]

In 2021 they co-organised a fundraiser to supply mutual aid to LGBTQ+ Afghans in Afghanistan.^[14]