books
Yassmin has published five books, with her fantasy Silverbrook series and debut literary novel AT SEA forthcoming in 2026.
Previous works include the essay collection Talking About A Revolution (PRH, 2022), Stand Up and Speak Out Against Racism (Walker, 2023) and two novels for younger readers, You Must Be Layla (Puffin, 2019) and Listen Layla (Puffin, 2021). Listen, Layla was longlisted for Book of the Year by The Children’s Book Council of Australia, as well as 2022 Honour Book for Children’s Africana Book of the Year by the Centre for African Studies at Howard University in the US. Stand Up and Speak Out Against Racism was longlisted for the SLA Information Book Award in 2024, and named a ‘Best Book of 2023’ by the School Library Journal (USA) and Guardian Australia.
Selected for ITV's 2024 Original Voices placement on the British soap Emmerdale, Abdel-Magied has since joined the core writing team with several credits to her name. Her original drama, Cruise Control, is in development with the BBC and she is also developing a slate of other TV projects for screen. Yassmin co-wrote the sold-out immersive theatre production in Kensington Palace, United Queendom, and has been selected for several playwrighting courses, including the Soho Theatre Writers Lab.
Yassmin has been a regular columnist with The New Arab and London’s Evening Standard. She has written for TIME, The Guardian, Observer Magazine, The New York Times, New Lines Magazine, Times Literary Supplement, Index on Censorship, GQ, Vogue and more.
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For literary queries, contact Molly Ker Hawn.
FORTHCOMING 2026
FORTHCOMING 2026
Being one of the boys was one thing…
Being the boss of the boys was something else altogether.
Expert driller Zainab is called to take charge of a high-stakes oil rig operation. Unable to resist the opportunity, she leaves behind her pregnant sister and heads offshore for the job of her life. But there’s a catch. The rig is teetering on the edge of disaster – and Zainab is the only woman amongst a crew of hardened men who want absolutely nothing to do with her.
At the helm but forced to prove herself at every turn, Zainab labours to investigate the rig’s imminent collapse. She soon realises the real danger may lie in the cold calculations and base desires of the men she’s now forced to spend every waking moment with.
As tensions rise and secrets unravel, Zainab races to uncover the truth bubbling below and fend off the looming catastrophe. Explosive and thought-provoking, At Sea is an exhilarating story about the clash of ambition, principle and prejudice, and the catastrophic consequences of our choices.
A propulsive literary thriller, AT SEA is forthcoming in May, 2026. Stay tuned!
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Startling, thrilling, subtly shocking: a superbly-crafted piece of volcanic tension
Musa Okwonga, author of One of Them
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An utterly brilliant, searing, incisive novel that holds a mirror up to some of the darkest tendencies of human nature and the systems we build, and what happens when those systemic and personal failures intersect.
Lucia Osborne-Crowley, author of The Lasting Harm
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The book I've been waiting for... Required reading for the Petroleum Age.
David Huebert, author of Oil People
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Written with the urgency of a thriller and the distress signal of an allegory, At Sea is a smart, razor-sharp takedown of the machismo of big oil and what it is to be a woman operating in such a hostile industry.
Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Alternatives
To read more of Yassmin’s non-fiction writing and reporting, visit this page.
For information on Yassmin’s screen or stage work, more contact agent Jessica Cooper at Curtis Brown.