Ruqaya Izzidien is an Iraqi–Welsh novelist and freelance journalist.
Born to an Iraqi father and an English mother, Izzidien grew up in Llanybydder, Wales.
[2] As a journalist, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera English and the BBC.
[3] She has lived in Gaza, Egypt, and Morocco, [4] before moving to the North West of England, where she currently resides.
[5] In 2019, she was among six of the authors awarded the Betty Trask Awards for her debut novel The Watermelon Boys, 2018 published by Hoopoe Fiction (AUC Press).