Omar El Akkad

Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist who previously worked for the Globe and Mail and has reported from around the world, including Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. He has written two novels, American War (2017) and What Strange Paradise (2021). Both books have received several accolades and awards. In 2021, Omar won the Giller Prize for his novel What Strange Paradise.

He has written for news sources such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, as well as newspapers and magazines like The Guardian, GQ and many more.

Omar joined the Embassy Cultural House through a partnership with Words: The Literary and Creative Arts Festival in London, ON, held in November 2022. ECH and Words hosted two events with Omar : Words' opening night event with film maker Janice Zolf and the following day at an event titled “When Home isn’t a Place”in conversation with Salah D. Hassan, Director of Global Studies at Michigan State University, Lansing Michigan, USA.

You can visit his website for more information and links to his other works, both fiction and non-fiction.

Work by Omar

Cover of American War, 2017

Cover of What Strange Paradise, 2021

Salah D. Hassan and Omar El Akkad in conversation at Words: London's Literary and Creative Arts Festival, November 5, 2022.

“When Home Isn’t a Place,” WordsFest Promotional Graphic, 2022.

EDITORIAL TEAM

ONLINE FOUNDER
Tariq Hassan Gordon

COFOUNDERS & CURATORIAL ADVISORS
Jamelie Hassan & Ron Benner

ADVISORY CIRCLE
Samer Abdelnour, Marnie Fleming, Wyn Geleynse, Fern Helfand, S F Ho, Lorraine Klaasen, Judith Rodger, Ruth Skinner, Mary Lou Smoke, and Lucas Stenning

COORDINATING EDITORS
Tariq Hassan Gordon & Olivia Mossuto

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Blessy Augustine, Anahí González, Jared Hendricks-Polack, Jessica Irene Joyce, Ira Kazi, Shelley Kopp, Jenna Rose Sands, Mireya Seymour, Venus Tsao, Diana Tamblyn, and Michelle Wilson.

VIRTUAL TOUR
Andreas Buchwaldt

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OUR STORY

Artists Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner and jazz musician Eric Stach founded the Embassy Cultural House (1983-1990) located in the restaurant portion of the Embassy Hotel at 732 Dundas Street in East London. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Embassy Cultural House was re-envisioned as a virtual artist-run space and website.

The Embassy Cultural House gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the London Arts Council through the City of London's Community Arts Investment Program.

The Embassy Cultural House is thankful for the mentorship program established by Western University's Visual Arts department and the continued support of the students and Faculty of Arts & Humanities.

Our Partners

E M B A S S Y C U L T U R A L H O U S E . C A

The Embassy Cultural House (ECH) is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton peoples, at the forks of Deshkan Ziibi (Antler River), an area subject to the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and other treaties, colonized as London, Ontario. The ECH strives to create meaningful relationships between the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and our contributors. The ECH honours the stewardship of the many Indigenous peoples who have resided on these lands since time immemorial.