In 2012, Akhtar published his first novel American Dervish, a coming-of-age story about a Pakistani-American boy growing up in Milwaukee. The book was met with critical acclaim, described by The New York Times as “self-assured and effortlessly told.” American Dervish has been published in over 20 languages and was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year. Akhtar’s narration of the audio book was nominated for an Audie Award in 2013.

Akhtar’s first produced play, Disgraced premiered at The American Theater Company in Chicago before being staged at Lincoln Center Theater in New York. The play went on to win the Obie Award and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and premiered at the Bush Theatre in London that spring. The play opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on October 23, 2014 and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.

Akhtar’s second play The Who & The What premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in February 2014, followed by a run at Lincoln Center Theater in June. The Who & The What has gone on to be produced around the world with notable productions in Berlin, Hamburg, and the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The latter production has run for almost two years and won Austrian film star Peter Simonischek the Nestroy Award for Best Actor.

His third play The Invisible Hand premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in December, 2014, a production which invited comparison to the work of Shaw, Brecht, and Arthur Miller. It would go on to win the Obie Award, the John Gassner Award, be nominated for multiple Lucille Lortel awards and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. In May 2016, the play premiered in London at The Tricycle Theatre and received nominations for the Evening Standard and Olivier Awards.

In 2016, American Theatre magazine declared Akhtar the most produced playwright in the country.

Akhtar’s latest play Junk: The Golden Age of Debt premiered on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, produced by Lincoln Center Theater, on November 2, 2017. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play and was awarded the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama. In his final interview Bill Moyers referred to Junk as “not only history but prophecy. A Biblical-like account of who’s running America, and how.” Moyers added: “Our times at last have found their voice, and it belongs to a Pakistani American: Ayad Akhtar.”

In 2017, Akhtar won the Steinberg Playwright Award. In his acceptance speech at Lincoln Center Theater, later published in The New York Times, he explained why he believes the theater is only more important now than it ever has been: