Ziyad Saadi
Ziyad Saadi is a Palestinian Canadian writer and filmmaker based in Vancouver. He is a Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist, and winner of the MPAC Hollywood Bureau pilot writing competition. He has contributed to Indiewire, The Independent, and The Gay & Lesbian Review, and his short story "The Third or Fourth Casualty" is featured in the Palestinian speculative fiction anthology Thyme Travellers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Concordia University.
Writers & Books
Award History
Jury Citation
“Three Parties paints a portrait of a family whose calm surface belies the damage of displacement and assimilation. Using the deceptively simple device of a day in the life of an eloquently flawed protagonist as he prepares to finally reveal his true queer self, Ziyad Saadi has crafted an authentic and moving novel that explores the thrill and danger of stepping off the precipice into an unknown future, the impact of secrets and shame, the trauma of a homeland left behind, and the futility of trying to control destiny. Veering expertly from humour to heartbreak, the timeline is both fluid and frozen, allowing decades of memory to flood into the present in shattering moments of revelation. This is a coming-out story like no other: elegant and witty, while embracing a depth of pain with courage and candour.”—2025 Dayne Ogilvie Prize Jury (Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, Darrin Hagen, and Janika Oza)Works Recognized by WT