Arifa Akbar

Arifa Akbar is the chief theatre critic for the Guardian. She previously worked at the Independent for 15 years and served as the paper's literary editor as well as arts correspondent and news reporter, covering news events including the 7/7 London tube attacks, the Kashmir earthquake of 2005 and the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Akbar has been the head of content at the publisher, Unbound, and arts editor on the slow news site, Tortoise Media. Her writing has been published in the Observer, Financial Times and London Evening Standard, as well as various anthologies. Her first book, Consumed, is published in June. She is currently on the board of trustees of the Orwell Foundation.