Amrou Al-Kadhi

Writer / Performer / Director

Add to shortlist

Books

Agent: Millie Hoskins

Millie Hoskins

mhoskins@unitedagents.co.uk

Books

Download CV

Amrou Al-Kadhi - aka Glamrou - is a writer, performer and filmmaker.

An established screenwriter, Amrou has written episodes for Little America (Apple TV), The Watch (BBC America), Hollyoaks (Channel 4), and has several TV shows and feature films in development. Their episode of Little America on AppleTV + was recognised as one of the best 10 episodes of television in 2020 by The Hollywood Reporter.

Their book, Life as a Unicorn, published with Harper Collins, was awarded the Polari First Book Prize and a Somerset Maugham award.

Amrou's drag show, GLAMROU, recently had a sell-out run at the Soho Theatre. It received rave reviews and will continue to tour next year.

Their short films have premiered on BBC4, Nowness, PBS, the BFI, Peccadillo Pictures, amongst others.

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

Non-Fiction

Publication Details	Notes
UNICORN 2019 Harper Collins	The story of a god-fearing Muslim boy from the Middle East who, to both the surprise and outrage of their family, becomes one of the UK’s leading drag performers. Along the way we see their parents attempt to disabuse Amrou of both their homosexual inclinations and an early penchant for being fabulous. We watch Amrou develop an obsession with marine biology, become an academic superstar, and get a scholarship to Eton. From there, it’s off to Cambridge, where – on the face of it – Amrou is the happiest gay at the university, but inside they're cracking up. Amrou has a breakdown and attempts to put the pieces back together, helped to an extent by returning to Islam in unusual ways, and coming into their own as the leader of the critically acclaimed drag troupe, Denim. It is a strange, brilliant, and unique story about not fitting in, and how you deal with always feeling like you’re standing on the outside of something. And who doesn’t, to some extent, have experience of that?

Publication Details

Notes

UNICORN

2019

Harper Collins

The story of a god-fearing Muslim boy from the Middle East who, to both the surprise and outrage of their family, becomes one of the UK’s leading drag performers. Along the way we see their parents attempt to disabuse Amrou of both their homosexual inclinations and an early penchant for being fabulous. We watch Amrou develop an obsession with marine biology, become an academic superstar, and get a scholarship to Eton. From there, it’s off to Cambridge, where – on the face of it – Amrou is the happiest gay at the university, but inside they're cracking up. Amrou has a breakdown and attempts to put the pieces back together, helped to an extent by returning to Islam in unusual ways, and coming into their own as the leader of the critically acclaimed drag troupe, Denim.

It is a strange, brilliant, and unique story about not fitting in, and how you deal with always feeling like you’re standing on the outside of something. And who doesn’t, to some extent, have experience of that?