Youssef Rakha

Youssef Rakha is a writer and photographer. Born in Cairo, he earned a BA in English and philosophy from Hull University, England; from 1998 to the present, he has worked as reporter, copy editor and cultural editor at Al-Ahram Weekly, the Cairo-based English-language newspaper . He was on sabbatical for a year (2008-2009) to work as a features writer at the Abu Dhabi-based daily, The National. His reportage, travel writing, photography, fiction and poetry – written originally in both Arabic and English – have appeared in numerous publications in Cairo, Beirut, London, Berlin, Italy and the US, as well as on the World Wide Web. Youssef Rakha exhibited his photos at the Goethe Institute, Cairo, and has published four books in Arabic: a collection of short stories, Azhar Al-Shams (1999, Dar Sharqiyat), a photo travelogue, Beirut shi mahal (2006, Kitab Amkenah), and  two books of travel writing with the Beirut-based Dar Riyad El Rayyes. His poems are soon to appear in a book entitled Kull Amakinina. He is currently working on his first novel