Said Salah Ahmed

Said Salah Ahmed
Native name	Saciid Axmed Saalax سعيد صلاح أحمد
Born	Somalia
Ethnicity	Somali
Occupation	playwright, poet, educator, filmmaker

Said Salah Ahmed (Somali: Saciid Axmed Saalax, Arabic: سعيد صلاح أحمد‎‎) is a Somali playwright, poet, educator and filmmaker. He was previously a biology teacher in Somalia. In 1984-1985, Ahmed directed his first feature film, The Somali Darwish (alt. The Somalia Dervishes), with Amar Sneh serving as producer. With a budget of $1.8 million, the 4-hour-and-40-minute epic was devoted to the revolutionary Somali Dervish State. It was made in seven languages, namely Somali, Arabic, Italian, English, and three regional dialects. The movie included an actual descendant of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan as its star, and featured hundreds of actors and extras. Following the start of the civil war, Ahmed emigrated to Minnesota. He subsequently wrote the children's book The Lion's Share, which served as the basis for a Somali folklore-based play that he both penned and produced for the SteppingStone Theatre. Some of his poems have been translated into English by the Poetry Translation Centre.