Ahmad Ali El Zein

Ahmad Ali El Zein
Occupation	Novelist, Television and Radio Host, Journalist.
Language	Arabic
Nationality	Lebanese
Genre	Novels, TV Documentaries
Notable works	The Edge of Oblivion
Spouse	Nada Tahsaladar
Children	Ali El Zein, Kifah El Zein, Bashar El Zein

Biography

Early life

Ahmad Ali El Zein was born on the 5, march 1955 in the village of Akkar el-Atika, Lebanon, 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.

At that time in his native village there was only a sort of elementary school, hence to continue their studies, himself and his peers had to go always farther and farther away from their home village.

This continuous traveling leads him to Qobayyat, a village near by his native village, where he attended high school, then to Jounieh, the maritime city where he made further studies and obtained the title of music teacher and then he got to Beirut in 1974, a year before the outbreak of the civil war.

In Beirut, he started teaching in high schools, attended the University and graduated in theater in 1981, and married from Nada Tahsaldar in 1979, they have three sons.

Media and Journalism

Ahmad Ali El Zein began his career in journalism in 1978, writing editorials for the cultural page of “al-Nida” newspaper, and then he cooperated with a “number of other Lebanese and Arab newspapers and magazines such “Annahar”, “Assafir”, “al-Hayat” “Zahrat al-Khalij" publishing varieties of cultural chronicles and editorials.

In 1986 He and other colleagues established and managed “Sawt al-Sha’b”, a radio station broadcasting in Lebanon, which climbed to top ranking in audience rating few years later after its establishment. Beside being programming director of “Radio Sawt al-Sha’b” he produced, wrote and presented dozens of radio comedies and political commentatory shows.

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-Omor” presented by Gisel Khoury and broadcasted 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…

Currently he is editor producer and presenter of “Rawafed”, a talk show host program, Broadcasted on “Al Arabiya”. Rawafed is one of the most watched TV programs, awarded the golden prize for the best cultural and educational program at the 10th edition of the Gulf Media Festival.

Novels

He published five novels, Al-Tayoun (1988), Khirbat al-Nawah (1992), Ma'bar al-Nadam (1998), Hafat al-Nisyan (2007) [The Edge of Oblivion], the first volume of Abdul-Jalil Ghazal Trilogy, excerpted in Banipal (32), Suhbat al-Tayr, the second volume of the Abdul-Jalil Ghazal Trilogy.

References

• Aplin, Thomas (2008), "Excerpt from The Edge of Oblivion Part One of The Trilogy of Abdul Jalil Ghazal", Banipal Magazine of Modern Arab Literature, no. 32.

External links

• Ahmad El Zein Blog
• Rawafed Facebook Page
• Ahmad's Facebook Page
• Rawafed episodes web archive
• Banipal: Excerpt from The Edge of Oblivion Translated by Thomas Aplin