How to be a Bad Muslim – new book by Mohamed Hassan

The Penguin-published essay collection, How to be a Bad Muslim, by award-winning writer, poet and journalist Mohamed Hassan is published as an e-book in the UK on 30 November.

From Cairo to Takapuna, Athens to Istanbul, How to be a Bad Muslim maps the personal and public experience of being Muslim through essays on identity, Islamophobia, surveillance, migration and language.

Traversing storytelling, memoir, journalism and humour, Hassan speaks on mental health, grief and loss, while weaving memories of an Egyptian immigrant fighting childhood bullies, listening to life-saving ‘90s grunge and auditioning for vaguely-ethnic roles in a certain pirate movie franchise.

Hassan is an award-winning writer, journalist and poet from Auckland and Cairo. In 2015 he won the New Zealand National Poetry Slam, and was the runner up at the UK National Poetry Slam in 2021. His first collection of poetry National Anthem shortlisted for the NZ National Book Awards, and his new essay collection How to be a Bad Muslim is published by Penguin Random House.

As a journalist, Mohamed covered counterterrorism and Islamophobia, and was was awarded the Gold Trophy at the 2017 New York Radio Awards for his podcast series Public Enemy on the impacts of social and security policies on Muslim communities in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. His 2020 series The Guest House tackled community grief following the Christchurch terror attacks.

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