Ayaz Shah

Ayaz Shah is a Danish-Pashtun writer and trained actor based in Copenhagen. He writes in Danish, yet his stories unfold within cultural landscapes far removed from Northern Europe. Having grown up bilingual, he is deeply aware of how language and culture are often intertwined. In his work, he plays with these connections, blending and reshaping them to create narratives that move between worlds and open up new imaginative spaces. His debut novel, La Victoria (Wadskjær Forlag, 2024), is steeped in the tradition of Latin American magical realism. Set in a small Venezuelan town, it explores themes of mental illness, toxic masculinity, and cultural denial, weaving reality and myth into a vivid portrait of a community on the edge. In a Danish literary context, La Victoria is groundbreaking as one of the first works by an author from an ethnic minority background that does not centre on the immigrant experience. Ayaz refuses to be defined by society’s expectations of what an ethnic minority writer “should” write about, instead asserting the freedom to tell any story he chooses. The novel was recently adapted for the stage at Literaturhaus in Copenhagen, where Ayaz also performed.

Alongside his literary work, Ayaz continues to work as an actor, drawing on his training from the Copenhagen Film and Theatre School. He has appeared in theatre productions and on television, bringing the same dedication to storytelling to the stage and screen. Committed to narratives that challenge stereotypes, confront social taboos, and illuminate overlooked perspectives, Ayaz believes in the power of art to open windows between cultures. Whether on the page or in performance, his work invites audiences into unfamiliar worlds while offering fresh ways to see their own.