Shahid Mahmood Nadeem is a playwright and journalist. Nadeem wrote more than 30 plays and six TV series for Pakistani television and is a writer and executive director at Ajoka Theatre, Pakistan's leading non-profit theater company. Nadeem has published numerous articles in The Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong), The Front Line (Madras), The Leveller, Index on Censorship and The Socialist Women (London).

Shahid Nadeem began his career as a human rights activist in Lahore and spent several years working for Amnesty International in London and Hong Kong after being exiled from Pakistan in 1980. He was sentenced to prison numerous times for his plays and peaceful protest activities.