American War (Akkad) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—1982
• Where—Cairo, Egypt
• Raised—Doha, Qatar, and Canada
• Education—B.A., Queens University (Kingston, Ontario)
• Awards—National Newspaper Award (see below)
• Currently—lives in Portland, Oregon


Omar El Akkad was born in Cairo, Egypt, and grew up in Doha, Qatar, until he moved to Canada with his family. He is an award-winning journalist and author who has traveled around the world to cover many of the most important news stories of the last decade.

His reporting includes dispatches from the NATO-led war in Afghanistan, the military trials at Guantanamo Bay, the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt and the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, Missouri. He is a recipient of Canada's National Newspaper Award for investigative reporting and the Goff Penny Memorial Prize for Young Canadian Journalists, as well as three National Magazine Award honorable mentions. He lives in Portland, Oregon. (From the publisher.)