Ahmad Ali El Zein

Ahmad Ali El Zein
Born	(1955-03-05) March 5, 1955 Akkar, Lebanon
Occupation	Novelist, Documentary Film Maker, Television Journalist.
Language	Arabic
Nationality	Lebanese
Genre	Novels, Documentary
Notable works	The Edge of Oblivion, Suhabt al-Tayr, Barid al-Ghoroob
Spouse	Nada Tahsaladar
Children	Ali El Zein, Kifah El Zein, Bashar El Zein

Ahmad Ali El Zein (born 1956), is a Lebanese novelist, documentary film maker and television journalist. He is best known for his trilogy of novels, Edge of oblivion (2007), Suhbat al-Tayer 2010, and ^[1] (2014). He lives traveling between Europe and the Middle East, where he shoots a series of documentaries on Arab intellectuals and artists entitled Rawafed and broadcast on Al Arabiya News Channel

Biography

Ahmad Ali El Zein was born on March 1956 in the village of Akar al-Atika, north Lebanon,^[2] to Ali El-Zein and Fatima al-Mohamad. He grew up in a rural and pastoral environment, a peaceful and archaic milieu lying on the Lebanese northern mountains of Akkar amid thick woods of fir, pine and oak.

Ahmad Ali El Zein studied Music and Theatre at the Lebanese University, Beirut. He started as a journalist in 1978 and wrote cultural essays, articles, and editorials for “al-Nida” newspaper, “Annahar”, “Assafir”, “al-Hayat” “Zahrat al-Khalij".

In 1986, he produced, wrote and presented dozens of comedies and political shows for Radio “Sawt al-Sha’b”, which climbed to top ranking in audience rating few time later after its launch.

For television, he realized documentary films (1992–1994) portraying contemporary Lebanese artists, singers, musicians, writers, poets, etc. for “Tele Liban”. From 1997 to 2000 he contributed to the redaction and production of several episodes of the talk show host program “Hiwar al-Omr” presented by Gisel Khoury and broadcast on “Lbc Channel”. On Abu Dhabi TV in 2001-2003 he edited and directed “Qiraat”, a program presenting latest and most important books. he also wrote, edited and directed a series of short documentaries portraying celebrities of the 20th century such Zakariyya Ahmad, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Asmahan, Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Farid al-Atrash, Laila Murad, Mohamed El Qasabgi, Fairuz, etc.

One of his plays, Ru'ya [Vision], was staged at Unesco castle theatre in Beirut in 2000. He wrote Al-Tayoun (1988), Khirbat al-Nawwah (1992), Ma'bar al-Nadam (1998) and Hafat al-Nisyan (2007)[The Edge of Oblivion], the first volume of his trilogy Thulathiyat Abdul Jalil Ghazal, excerpted in Banipal,^[3] Sohbat al-Tayer (2011), Barid al-Ghouroub (2014).

Ahmad El Zein started in 2003 shooting a series of documentaries entitled Rawafed and broadcast on “Al Arabiya News Channel”. Rawafed, one of the most acclaimed TV programs, was awarded the golden prize for the best cultural and educational program at the 10th edition of the Gulf Media Festival.^[4]

The Edge of Oblivion

The first volume of a trilogy about fictional hero Abdul Jalil Ghazal – whom we meet limping from the ruins of an intolerable desert prison, continually sucked back into his dark and horrifying memories as he tries to make sense of his present predicament.^[5]

List of works

Novels

• "Al-Tayoun", 1988
• "Khirbat al-Nawah", 1992
• "Ma'bar al-Nadam", 1998
• "Hafat al-Nisyan", 2007
• "Suhbat al-Tayr", 2010
• "Barid al-Ghorub", 2014

Play

Ru'ya

References

Sources

External links

• Banipal: Excerpt from The Edge of Oblivion Translated by Thomas Aplin