Omar El Akkad
Omar El Akkad
Full Name and Common Aliases
Omar El Akkad is a Canadian novelist, journalist, and playwright. His full name is Omar Mohamed El Akkad.
Birth and Death Dates
Born on August 29, 1982, in Cairo, Egypt. No death date available.
Nationality and Profession(s)
Canadian by nationality and profession: novelist, journalist, and playwright.
Early Life and Background
Omar El Akkad's early life was marked by turmoil. Born in Egypt, he moved to Canada with his family at a young age, settling in Montreal, Quebec. This experience of migration would later shape his writing and worldview. He began writing stories as a teenager and went on to study journalism at Carleton University.
Major Accomplishments
El Akkad's breakthrough came with the publication of his debut novel, American War, which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2018. The book is a dystopian tale set in a future where climate change has ravaged the United States. He has also published short stories and essays in various literary magazines.
Notable Works or Actions
Notable works include:
American War: A novel that explores the impact of climate change on the United States, winning the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Short stories and essays published in various literary magazines, including Granta, The New Yorker, and Harper's Magazine.
His work as a journalist has been featured in The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, and The Washington Post*.
Impact and Legacy
El Akkad's writing often explores themes of displacement, trauma, and the human cost of conflict. Through his work, he sheds light on pressing global issues like climate change, inequality, and social injustice.
His unique perspective as an immigrant and journalist has allowed him to tackle complex topics with sensitivity and nuance. El Akkad's stories challenge readers to confront their own biases and assumptions, fostering empathy and understanding.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Omar El Akkad is widely quoted and remembered for his thought-provoking novels, short stories, and essays that address pressing global issues with sensitivity and nuance. His unique perspective as an immigrant and journalist has allowed him to tackle complex topics with empathy and understanding.
His work serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of empathy, compassion, and social responsibility. As a writer, he continues to inspire readers to engage with the world around them, sparking meaningful conversations and reflections on the human experience.
Quotes by Omar El Akkad
Omar El Akkad's insights on:
The sun broke through a pilgrimage of clouds and cast its unblinking eye upon the Mississippi Sea.
What is the first anesthetic?Wealth.And if I take your wealth?Necessities.And if I demolish your home, burn your fields?Acknowledgement.And if I make it taboo to sympathize with your plight?Family.And if I kill your family?God.And God......Hasn't said a word in two thousand years. (136)
This country has a long history of defining its generations by the conflicts that should have killed them.
It amazed her, the length at which old men could talk. She wondered if it wasn't the sound of his own voice, rather than the words themselves, that pleased him. He had small dull eyes and the only time they lit up was when he was speaking.
All these old men want it to be like it was when they were young. But it'll never be like that again, and they'll never be young again, no matter what they do.
She held the woman's hand but the hand was now simply weight. She listened as the men returned north toward the gate from which they'd first entered. They passed close to her tent. It seemed an endless procession, thousands strong. She imagined them not as men, not even as human, but as a dark, daylong season: a primal winter.
It seemed impossible then to imagine the two of them as siblings, as having come from any kind of overlapping past.
Her anger at the young woman's stubbornness quickly prompted recollections of all the times she'd found herself on one side or another of these meaningless, bigoted demarcations; all the times she'd been made to feel alien to some stranger's expectation of what constituted the right and normal world---the color of her skin, the ethnicity of the man she'd chosen to marry, even her tomboy daughter.
