I haven’t written anything here for a while, so the next couple of posts will just be a kind of update on what’s been up this past year. On the GQ Middle East front, I’ve been extremely luck to chat with some truly impressive, talented people. Back around the start 2020, I chatted with French-Algerian actor (and Thai boxing champ) Dali Benssalah about his role in the new Bond film. We didn’t know then that it wouldn’t come out till October 2021. In October I had a chat with luminous Italian pop star Mahmood about everything from the labels he avoids to Eurovision. By December, I was having chats with some of GQ’s People of the Year, including the brilliant Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek (Breakthrough Actor of the Year) and joint Artists of the Year Eli Rezkallah - the visionary founder of Plastik Magazine - and global pop culture satirist Saint Hoax. In March of 2021, I spoke to the wonderful Dana Hourani about her burgeoning pop career and in April I met with legendary Syrian actor Bassel Khaiat to figure out what it feels like to be at the top of the game.

In the middle of all that, I wrote something about the Beirut explosion in August. It was a very different kind of piece, but I’m thankful to GQ for giving me the space to process what happened that day on their pages.

I hope the coming year will be much more focused on meeting talented Arab creators around the world. It’s an exciting moment for the culture.