Issa Ibrahim is a visual artist, author, musician and filmmaker born and raised in Queens, New York. He was the subject of an hour-long NPR audio story that won the 2014 Edward R. Murrow Award for Best News Documentary and the 2014 Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Director’s Choice Award. He has also been featured on German Public Television, in the 1999 HBO documentary The Living Museum by Academy Award winning director Jessica Yu, and the 2015 documentary That Which Is Possible. 
 
Issa is a 25-year artist-in-residence at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center’s Living Museum. He is also a member artist represented by Fountain House Gallery in New York City; the premier gallery dedicated to promoting the work of artists with mental health challenges. Issa is the author of the memoir The Hospital Always Wins published by Chicago Review Press in 2016. His latest novel The Cosmic Knockout was published by Issues Books in January 2026.